Bridging the Gap
by FlamboyantlyBiBoy
Summary: The Greeks arrive at New Rome, and one legacy of Rome isn't exactly happy to be back. Meanwhile, he's best friend gets a surprise of her own after a visit from her dad, and together they have to stop the two camps from destroying each other.
1. 1) Ace Kindle

Ace stared down from the Argo II, the wind blowing through his blonde hair lightly. New Rome lay out below them in all her splendor, and he couldn't contain his excitement to cover up his fear. He wanted to show Leo around the city, to have the moment of walking through his home with the boy he loved on his arm. Somewhere deep down he knew that wouldn't be happening, but there was no rule that said he couldn't dream.

He glanced back at Leo standing at the helm with Annabeth, Jason, and Piper. They were here with a purpose, the rest were just decoration really to serve as proof there were more Greeks. Clarisse stood with Ace, and on his other side was Ebony holding hands with Gael.

Crowds of demigods raced through the streets to stare up in awe at the tireme. Ace could see several of his friends down below; Frank and Hazel with another boy. He didn't really have any friends besides the duo.

Leo came to stand beside Ace, "Happy to be home?" But, the moment he looked into Ace's eyes he could see that he wasn't. He was worried, even if his face didn't show it.

"Of course I am." Ace answered without conviction. He watched as Jason in his purple toga went to stand where the heroes beneath them could see. It was still hard to believe that his little blood brother was preator even though he'd be awarded the title exactly a year ago. Jason had been missing for most of the time.

Leo kissed him gently before going back to the control. It was time to land the Argo II! Leo picked up the Wii remote and began shaking it vigorously while pressing buttons. Slowly the Argo II came to halt above the city.

Leo stepped onto the deck, "Alrighty. Who's goin' down there first? Jason?"

Jason glanced back at him, before nodding slowly, "Sure. Hey, Pipes, you want a ride down?"

Piper smiled, "Sure."

The blonde put his arm around his girlfriend's waist, holding her close as they drifted down to the ground. Ace rolled his eyes, and tossed the latter down for the rest of them. Leo walked over to Ace, "Ready to go?"

He shrugged, watching as the others headed down to his city. Before Leo could follow them though, he kissed him out of site of the crowd below, "I love you."

Leo kissed back, "I love you too."

Ace nodded, before heading down the latter. He stayed close to Clarisse since some part of him knew she would stick up for him if need be. Leo stood next to Ace, but not too close that people would suspect anything.

Annabeth and Jason lead them through the crowd while Ace tried to hide in their group with his head still held high. In the crowd, their group had to press together which lead to Ace and Leo next to each other. Gael had his arm around Ebony. He'd snuck on without Chiron's permission, but the rest weren't surprised by his appearance. In a way, it made sense for him to be there.

Leo gently brushed against Ace's hand. The blonde blushed brightly, smiling. They watched Percy and Annabeth's reunion which made those in their group that knew the couple laugh. Ace wasn't paying much attention since he was looking around the crowd. So it surprised him as the group started moving again.

"Bello?" He whispered to Leo.

"Yes?"

"Are...are we feasting?"

"I don't know..."

"Yeah," Clarisse whispered to them, "Apparently all the Romans needed was to see Percy and Annabeth kiss for the two camps to get along."

Ace laughed softly, moving closer to Leo without meaning to. Leo smiled at him sweetly, and brushed against his hand again. The motion made Ace smile, and forget they were in a crowd that was watching his every move.

In the end, the only thing that stopped Ace from kissing was that in that moment a girl raced up to them. She smiled brightly at Ace, "You're back! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm...I'm really good. The past month has been really interesting." Ace smiled at Leo, "Hazel, this is Leo Valdez. Leo, Hazel Levesque."

Leo smiled at her, "Hola." Man, she was pretty. If he wasn't gay he would probably ask her out.

Another Roman came up. A boy this time who was looking very closely at Leo, "Hey, Ace. We'll have to catch up."

Ace laughed, "Yeah sure." He seemed to notice the way the boy was looking at his boyfriend, "Um, Frank this is Leo."

Leo nodded, "Hey."

"So..." Ace muttered awkwardly, running his hands together.

"Your father's upset." Hazel stated, looking him up and down worriedly.

"Figured." The blonde sighed, "Well, lets go enjoy the feast before the dealing has to happen...Food is always good first."

Leo looked around, most of the campers were already gone. Seems hunger outweighed wanting to see the Greeks and their ship. He took Ace's hand and squeezed it reassuringly, "It'll be okay."

Ace smiled at him, something in his chest fluttering at Leo's words. It must have showed on his face because the other two warriors exchanged glances before Frank nodded, "Yep, he's going to be really pissed."

The blonde pouted playfully, throwing his arms around Leo's neck before facing the couple, "But he's mine!"

Leo laughed, "Let's eat. I'm starving." He followed his nose, and the other kids, to the food.

As they neared the others, Ace pulled away from Leo again even though it felt like a stake was being driven into his chest. The four sat down with the rest of the visiting Greeks, Reyna, and Octavian. It took all Ace had to keep from annoying Octavian so he would storm off, but he had no clue how Leo would react to seeing his boyfriend flirt with another boy.

Instead, Ace just rested comfortably on one of the couches. His gaze almost dared Octavian to say he didn't belong there. Luckily, nobody argued. This was how a hero was suppose to dine, not those hard crowded benches at Camp Half Blood. A part of him already missed the Greek camp though.

Leo looked up as Ebony and Gael joined them, "Hey."

Ebony smiled and sat next to him, across from Reyna, "Hi." Gael slid into his chair next to Eb and put a hand on her knee.

Reyna studied Ebony for a moment, looking her up and down. As if she was evaluating her, "You sure don't look Greek. You actually look very Roman."

Leo watched as Ebony's face colored slightly. He could tell she was uncomfortable being studied and evaluated by the Praetor. Reyna had eyes that would scare even the toughest Legion soldiers. He knew they must have been even scarier than he thought because the daughter of Hades was looking a little worried under Reyna's piercing gaze.

"Um...Yeah. I have family from Italy."

Reyna looked, almost disappointed. As if she knew something and badly wanted Ebony to know it too. "Okay." She looked down at her plate and took a bite of food then looked at Ace, "So, Ace. Happy to be home?"

Ace smiled politely at the Praetor, "There's certainly some things I've missed." He looked away from her, scared to meet her eyes. Normally, Ace wasn't scared of anything but he didn't want to lie to her face since it had been rumored that she could tell lies.

Reyna smiled, but it looked forced, "Well. I hope you'll enjoy your time here before you set sail again." This time she continued eating and did not speak to them again. She exchanged small talk with Octavian but that was it.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Clarisse whispered to her nephew, but he wasn't paying her any attention. Ace sat up, staring at a man who looked to be in his forties, but who clearly used to be a great warrior. He had dark hair, bulky muscles, and angry brown eyes. The two looked nothing alike, but most every Roman knew why his approach made the blonde pale so greatly.

"I'll just..." Ace muttered before launching off of the couch to race towards the man.

Jason watched him go, and seemed torn between following and staying, "I had hope this would wait for at least a bit..."

Leo looked up from his food, "Is that his dad?"

At Jason's nod, Clarisse took another look at the man now talking animatedly with Ace, "He is a son of Mars?"

"We don't all look the same, you know." Frank muttered, picking at his own food to avoid looking at the tragedy unfolding.

That comment seemed to make Clarisse awkward, "Well yeah of course. Not all of us Ares kids are the same either."

She shared a look with Frank, and after a few seconds they shared small smiles. Percy put it as he reached for more food, "I had hoped you two would get along."

Leo laughed and muttered under his breath, "Clarisse has a stick shoved so far up her ass I didn't think it was possible for her to get along with anyone other than herself."

"We don't hate each other anymore." Percy muttered.

"Shut up, Prissy, I'm trying to eavesdrop!" Clarisse answered, not looking at him. Her eyes still trained on Ace and his father. Their discussion seemed to be getting more heated by the second, but Ace wasn't backing down. They were also getting louder, and the blonde kept glancing over at the Greeks. At Leo.

Leo looked at him worriedly, then back to his friends, "Should I go over there?"

"No." Jason stated instantly, putting a hand on Leo's arm as if to keep him back, "Bad idea."

He looked between Jason and Ace, then decided that it would only make things worse, "Fine." Leo looked at his food but couldn't eat anymore. The thought of eating made him feel sick.

"He'll...be okay." Jason didn't sound at all sure of that statement, "Ace has been putting up with stuff for years."

"It got worse after his mom died." Hazel muttered, picking at her food.

"Scortum puerilibus!" The cry made most of the Romans stop to stare at the duo. Ace didn't show any reaction as his dad, his trainer, his mentor walked away from him with an air of anger. The stares of the other legionnaires were what finally made him realize...he was home.

Jason, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, and even Percy winced sympathetically at the insult. Octavian tried to hide his smirk at the blonde being taken down a few pegs, and was mostly successful. After a minute, Ace came back to the group where Clarisse had stood as a reflex to defend her nephew even though she didn't understand the words.

Leo looked at Ace then went to stand beside him, "Ace...You okay?"

Ace didn't answer exactly, he just muttered, "I'm not really hungry...I'm gonna go...play with paper clips or something..."

He started back towards the Argo II, arms crossed over his chest as he tried to keep himself collected in front of everybody. It was Gael who asked softly once he was gone, "What did that mean?"

Ebony answered him without missing a beat, "Boyish whore."

Jason shook his head, "Literally yeah, but...societally its...calling him immature, weak, and passive in sex..."

Leo looked at them, "Okay...But my question is, Eb, since when do you speak Latin?"

She shrugged, "I...I don't know. I've felt strange since the moment we've been here..."


	2. 2) Ebony Blake

Just as those words left her lips a dark, shadowy figure entered the room. Once again, the room became silent as everyone watched the figure walk over towards Eb and her friends. Ebony recognized the figure immediately. It was the same dark figure that would visit her every year on her birthday. The same dark figure that would talk to her when she wasn't living up to his expectations. The exact same figure that pushed her to be the child in the prophecy then reamed her when she wasn't.

"Its my father..." She whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

Gael followed her gaze, "Well, he...he does seem to heading over here." Ebony swallowed nervously then stood and waited for her father to be done scaring everyone.

The figure walked up to them. It was hard to tell if he was more Greek or Roman in that moment since Hades to Pluto didn't change much. He ignored the rest of them with cool ease, focusing on his eldest daughter, "Ebony..."

Eb nodded, "Father. What brings you here?"

"We need to talk. Somewhere...more private." He may of glanced at Reyna with that line, or it might have been a trick of the setting sun.

She ran a hand through her short black hair, "Okay." She brushed passed Gael and headed for the door, with the god following behind her.

As they walked, he stepped next to her. Every few minutes, his clothes would flicker with sudden gems that would just as quickly disappear as he tried to hold himself as Hades without slipping into Pluto. Made only harder by them being with the Romans. He really should have done this sooner, "There's something I must tell you...you're not going to like it either..."

"What is it?"

Hades stopped walking, looking down at the city of New Rome in its glittering glory, "Do you like it here, Ebony?"

Ebony shrugged again, "It's nice. It really is. It's beautiful...But...I have this strange feeling...As if...As if I really belong here."

"That's good...considering you do belong here."

"What are you talking about?" Sadly, she didn't need to ask. She already had a feeling of what he meant. "You mean...I'm Roman?"

"Yes, you were taken to the wrong camp at which point it was too late to bring you here."

"How in the heck did I get taken to the wrong camp?!"

"A satyr found you, and took you to the Greeks. It's happened more throughout history than most gods would like to admit."

Ebony groaned and looked around the city, "So...I'm really supposed to be here...Everything I thought was a lie."

"Not everything, but you will restart here. Reyna has agreed to let you join the legion. You will join them, and train with them." The way he said it made it clear that arguing was out of the question, "This is your chance, Ebony, to fix things."

"What do you mean, 'fix things'? What's there to fix?" Anger and disappointment were seeping into her voice.

"The riff. The Greeks and Romans need to work together or else the world is going to be destroyed. Hera has her method of trying to reunite the camps with switching my brothers' spawn. I have you, Nico, and Hazel. Get to know your little sister."

"Father, I don't...If this is about saving the world why do I feel like it's to make up for not being the child in the prophecy?"

"Things do not have to be either or, Ebony. They can be both." Hades turned his back on the city, "Don't fail." With that, he sunk into the shadows.

Ebony kicked a rock and cursed, "Dammit!" She walked back to all of her friends, sulking the whole way.

Gael looked worried, unable to eat. As she approached, he stood, "What's wrong?"

She pulled him in close and hugged him, "A lot." She kissed him then pulled back, "I'm...I'm Roman."

"You're...what?" He wasn't sure how to react to that.

"I'm Roman." She sat and told them what happened when she spoke to her father. Gael sat next to her, and put an arm around her. He had no clue what to say so he just kissed her cheek. Ebony half smiled at him.

Leo looked at Ebony, "Does that mean you're staying here when the quest is over?"

"Yeah. He said I have to stay here. Train. Bridge the gap. Reyna has agreed to let me join the legion..."

Jason looked over at his fellow Praetor, but she just shrugged, "How am I supposed to refuse Pluto?"

Ebony groaned, "This really sucks..." She stood, "I'm going to find Ace." She kissed Gael once more, smiled, then left.

Ace sat on the deck of the Argo II, his head resting against the automatic catapult he'd proudly built. He'd been crying.

Ebony walked towards him carefully. "Ace?" She stood next to him and rested a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at her, brushing his tears away, "Hey, why aren't you down there feasting?"

"There isn't much point to feasting anymore. Not after the news I just received." She told him what Hades/Pluto told her.

"So...Its like some sick joke of us competing for the suckiest father tonight?" Ace really did try to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but it didn't work.

"Yeah." She hopped up on the railing of the boat, "But...I came here for help...Can you train me? I don't know the first thing about being a Roman or fighting like one."

He didn't answer for a minute before standing, and smiling brightly, "That's it! The solution to both of our daddy issues!"

"What are you talking about?" She was wary at first, this sounded an awful lot like sarcasm.

"I'll vouch for you. It just means that I'm suppose to look out for you, keep you out of trouble-"

She smirked and pouted playfully, "But I like trouble..."

Ace continued, ignoring her interruption, "And teach you how to fit into society. Reyna will let me. I can teach you how to be Roman which will show my dad that I'm not a scortum puerilibus."

Ebony smiled, "Thanks." She instantly felt a lot better knowing she'd have someone to count on and have her back.

He couldn't contain his excitement, and hugged her, "Now, lets go back to the feast. I'm starving."

Ace wiped the last of his tears away, before pulling her through the streets back to the couches. Now that it was out anyway, he raced right up to Leo, and kissed him sweetly, "Hey, Bello. Are you having fun?"

Leo kissed back, "Of course!"

"I want to show you around after you're done eating, okay?" His smile was so bright and childish, it seemed impossible anybody could say no to it.

Gael put his arms around Ebony, "What happened to him?"

Ebony rested her head on his shoulder, "He's going to teach me how to be Roman..."

He raised an eyebrow, holding her close, "Ace is going to teach you how to be Roman?"

"It solves both of our problems with our parents. It gives him the chance to show his dad that he can be Roman and make him happy and it gets my dad to...well...nothing makes him happy. It just gets Hades off of my back for awhile"

Gael nodded, "Okay, as long as everything works out."

Ace had his fingers link with Leo's as they were about to explore New Rome, but he stopped and turned to face the Praetors, "I will vouch of Ebony. We have to do it all official later, but I felt like saying it now."

Octavian glowered at the boy, "You abandoned the Legion. As a traitor, you shouldn't even be allowed within the gates. Now you want to vouch for this...Greek."

"Shut up!" Percy and Jason chorused together.

Ebony stood abruptly, "Okay. Look Octavian, I don't know how a stick got shoved that far up your ass but you need to figure out a way to get it removed. Just because I grew up at Camp Half-Blood doesn't mean I'm any less Roman than you! This isn't an either or thing. This is a both. I am both Roman and Greek." When she was done everyone looked shocked, she guessed she was the first to ever talk to Octavian like that.

Ace smiled at her behind Octavian's back before unlinking his hand with Leo's. He threw his arms around the other blonde's shoulders from behind, and made his voice sound sympathetic, "Poor, Octie! Did she hurt your feelings? They are very easily hurt, aren't they? What if I kiss and make them better?"

Octavian growled, throwing Ace off of him so he stumbled back into Leo, before storming off towards the Temple of Apollo. Ace waved at his back, "Bye-bye, Octie!"

Ebony laughed then looked at the shocked, yet amused, Jason. "What?

"Nothing." Jason shook his head, smiling at her.

Ace latched onto Leo again, "Come on, Bello! There's lots of pretty buildings to look at, and libraries, and things you can use to kill people! Lots of fun, you know?"

Ebony smiled at Ace and held up a finger, "Wait! Ace! One more thing. Is that what you meant by, 'getting in trouble'?" She used air quotes for "getting in trouble".

"What? No! That was just pissing Octavian off. I do that everyday!"

Leo rolled his eyes at his boyfriend while Ebony laughed, "Oh man. With the two of us...I don't know if Octavian will be able to handle it."

"You are not teaching her to be you, Ace." Reyna put in, "You are teaching her how to be Roman."

"Yes-yes, I know, Miss Preator Ma'am." Ace muttered dejectedly, "It is my job to piss Octavian off though. I've been doing since we met when we were two." Ebony laughed then took her seat beside Gael again and curled into him.

Gael put an arm around her happily. Ace started pulling Leo towards the rest if the city, "Come, my love, pretty killing machines to see." He pressed close to Leo, whispering to him, "And you will be coming in more ways than one before we're back on the ship."

Leo laughed and waved to everyone, "Gotta go guys. See ya later!" He followed Ace out the door.

Ebony played with Gael's charm that represented her and smiled. But it faded quickly when she remembered she's Roman now. Knowing Hades, he would make her get with a Roman even though she's supposed to be bridging the gap. He, like any other Roman or Greek god or mortal, wants his child to have pure babies.

Gael smiled, kissed her temple, and whispered to her, "I love you. No matter what."

She looked up at him smiling, "I love you too. I always will." She kissed him sweetly.


	3. 3) Ace Kindle

Ace glared at Dakota as the other boy sat down on one of the benches. They didn't need watching, it was just Octavian sticking his nose into things. Maybe Ace could get Ebony to beat Dakota up though...that could be fun.

He was looking through spare spathas, and gladiuses when Ebony arrived in the arena with the crisp morning air filling the place. She attempted to pull her short hair into a ponytail but it didn't quite work. She walked up to Ace, dressed in her Greek armor and her sword hanging from her belt. She never went anywhere without her own sword.

"Alright. Let's get to it."

Ace looked her up and down, hating what he had to say while knowing Dakota would bitch if he let her train dressed like that, "You...have to change. According to orders, nothing Greek. That includes your armor. We can get you some Roman armor..."

Ebony groaned and looked down at her own armor, then started taking it off. She glanced at Dakota who was holding back laughter. "Fine." She was out of her own armor and stood in her jeans and Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. "Does that "nothing Greek" thing include the Camp Half-Blood t-shirt?"

"Its suppose to, but I'm not going to make you strip in front people." Ace answered, handing her a set of Roman armor along with a rectangular shield.

Ebony laughed, "Okay." She nodded at Dakota, "But I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"He wouldn't." Ace agreed, "Dakota's a creep. I would mind though...I don't need to be seein' that."

Ebony smiled and took the armor from Ace's hands then took the shield. It felt funny in her hands. "This is incredibly uncomfortable..."

"You get used to it." Ace offered her a spatha, "This should be about the same weight as your sword."

"Thanks." She did a few strikes in the air, getting a feel for the blade and it's weight. "Okay. I think I'm ready to actually fight someone." She smiled eagerly.

Ace pulled his spatha out, flicking his wrist playfully. He touched a ring he hadn't been wearing before that had two hammers crossed, and a rectangular shield popped out to hang on his hand. It was the same size and shape as her's, but more detailed in the design.

Ebony didn't back down, she was ready to make Hades, Pluto, proud. She swung her spatha at him and missed. Ace shook his head, not really going in for an attack since he wanted her to practice offense. He stepped back, "Use your full weight against it."

She stopped for a moment then struck him again, this time using her back-up mass to reinforce the blow. Her blow didn't phase him, but it did at least strike his shield this time, "It's not that different from the Greek style. You want to get your enemy open, then surprise them."

Ebony groaned, this was so hard! Stinking Romans! She thought for a moment, then attacked again. This time, getting in close with Roman techniques then hit him with a Greek one. It would have worked, if he hadn't known the Greek style which lead to Ace blocking, "That was good, but don't let your anger drive you. It should be natural."

"In case you haven't noticed, Ace. Anger is natural for me." She huffed, ripping off her helmet. "I think it's time for a break..." She walked to the bench, sat down and took a long drink from her bottle.

Ace winced as he sat next to her, and groaned. Even though he was off the crutches, his ankle still bothered him. He pulled his own armor off carefully, before slipping his shirt up to look at the scar running down his chest. There was no fear of it reopening now, but the coloring was a dark red, "You're getting better."

"Thanks. But since I'm really Roman, shouldn't this come naturally?" It was obvious she was frustrated.

He shrugged, "Some of it will, but you'll have to work with most of it because you're so used to Greek weaponry and style."

Ebony didn't really have a response. She just groaned and wiped the sweat off of her forehead then wiped her hands on her jeans. It was hot as Hades and it was early morning!

"You'll get it." Ace promised before lowering his voice to a whisper so Dakota couldn't hear, "You wanna have some fun now?"

Ebony looked up at him, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well...Dakota is suppose to be here to help...It's still training, but I was thinking that we could get him to fight you. Roman style to begin with, then you pull out some Greek and totally whoop his ass as a way too..." Ace thought for a second before nodding, "As a way to demonstrate how you aren't just learning a new technique to forget the old, but how you can use to them together to your advantage."

She smiled at him, "Sounds good." She stood, adjusted her straps on the armor then picked up her helmet. She looked at Ace then to Dakota, "So, Dakota. You're supposed to be helping, right?"

Dakota looked up from his kool-aid, "Not exactly...I'm suppose to be making sure Ace actually does what he's suppose to do."

"Yes, which is to train her." Ace pointed out, "But just fighting me repeatedly isn't going to do her much good in a real battle. So, we were thinking that you're a strong, good warrior, and that it would be beneficial to Ebony's training if you two were to fight."

The 'strong, good warrior' was a little exaggerated considering the kid was scrawny and addicted to kool-aid, but Ace had seen him fight plenty of times so it wasn't that far over the top. His explanation stroked Dakota's ego perfectly, "Sure, I'll just go get my armor on."

As Dakota headed over to his gear, Ace whispered to Ebony, "Flattery is always helpful." She laughed in response and put on her helmet. She was going to kick Dakota's ass.

He finished pulling his armor on, before standing proudly where Ace and Ebony had been fighting. Ace smiled, shoving Ebony's shoulders gently, "Okay, go kick his ass."

She walked to the center of the arena and raised her spatha. She had the perfect plan to bring Dakota's ego down a peg. Ebony glanced at Ace quickly before turning her attention to Dakota, she stood and waited for him. It was her turn to take defense.

Dakota struck quickly, faking a blow to her right side, before going for under her shield. Ebony defended with a little difficulty. But it was all part of her plan. She stepped back again, then started circling Dakota. Make him work a little more.

Silly, Greek, the best defense is offense. Dakota struck again, aiming for her neck this time without any faking. Ebony ducked under the strike easily, then attacked Dakota. Using her Roman moves she got in nice and close. Then, without any warning she spun, used a Greek technique to get him off balance. She kicked him square in the chest, the side-kick knocked him over and fell into the sand.

Dakota stared up at her dumbfounded as Ace clapped lightly, "Very good!"

Ebony laughed and offered Dakota a hand to help him up. He refused it, pushing himself off the ground, and dusting dirt from his armor. She glanced at Ace and covered the side of her mouth with her hand, "Somebody's upset..." She smiled again.

Ace laughed, "Well, I think that's enough for one morning. Who wants food?!"

Eb took off her helmet, "I do." She fought with the straps on her armor for a while before finally getting it off. The blonde smiled, offering help which of course she refused. He already had his armor off, and was standing there proudly in a pair of jeans and a orange Camp Half Blood t-shirt which he'd turned inside out mostly because Jason said that it would cause trouble. Even with the heavy armor and training, he'd hardly broken a sweat. Ebony hung up her stuff on the weapons rack then followed Ace out of the arena.

"I think this is going to be easier than we first-." He stopped as he noticed the figure walking towards them, "Great, dammit!"

Ebony looked up at the figure, "Your dad?"

"Yep. What's wrong now?" Ace groaned, "I'm training you, and being a good Roman. What else does he...No. No, he wouldn't...He would!"

"What? Ace, what's he going to do?"

"...He'll say I'm not allowed to see Leo." Just saying it caused a pain in Ace's chest, actually doing it...No! He wouldn't. Leo was his, and nobody was allowed to change that!

"Because Leo is Greek or because he's a boy?" Ebony watched as the figure got closer to them, he gave off an air that showed he was deadly. That he would kick ass without a moment of hesitation.

"Mostly because he's Greek." Ace sighed, "But...Romans have no problem with homosexuality...As long as your dominate its seen as a good thing to dominate a guy of a lower class, but...I don't therefore it makes me weak."

"Oh...Well, here he comes to deliver the news I guess..." Now Ace's father stood right in front of them.

The blonde tried to hide his emotions, but it proved harder than he thought as his voice cracked, "You guys go on. We need to talk."

"No, Ace. I'm not leaving." She put hand on her hips and stared at her best friend.

"It's fine, Ebony." Ace tried for a nonchalant smile.

"No. It's not fine and you know it." She whispered in his ear, "I'm not going to leave you at the hands of your father."

He wanted to argue more, but Ace didn't have the strength mostly because having Ebony there did give him some more confidence. His father wouldn't do anything too bad with her there. Ace linked arms with Ebony before turning to the older man, "We were just taking a break from training to get some lunch. What's up?"

Ace's father glared at Ebony before focusing on his son. It was almost painful how opposite the two were, "I don't want you seeing him anymore. No more sleeping on that ship either, you'll come home at night."

The second part surprised Ace, so it took him a few seconds to start shaking his head, "No, I'll...I'll sleep in bunkers, fine, but...The legion is suppose to sleep together in case of a night attack, I wouldn't be of any help if I was sleeping in the city."

Every part of that was true, but it wasn't why Ace was saying no, and they both knew it, "Fine, but no sharing a bed with that Greek, and I don't want to see the two of you together."

As he left, Ace leaned on Ebony more for support as it felt like a black hole was forming in his chest. She held onto him tightly. "Don't worry. We're leaving soon anyways..."

The blonde shook his head, "He's going to do everything in his power to make sure I stay here...and he has a lot of power in the senate."

"If they say you can't come, fine. We'll kidnap you." There was fire in Ebony's eyes. No one was going to crush her best friend. No one was going to try and dampen that spirit of his, she wasn't going to let anyone crush him. She would stand up to anyone for Ace, even his own father.

He just nodded, sniffling slightly, "We should...Food."

"Yeah. Come on." She led him towards the dining hall. She headed towards their friends then remembered what Ace's dad had said about being near Leo. "Um... Does this whole, 'not being near Leo' thing apply to food?"

"Probably, but does it look like I care?" Ace muttered, before heading over to where Leo and Gael sat. He lay on one of the couches, and plastered on a fake smile.

Leo kissed Ace, "Hey." He saw through the fake smile and was going to ask but one look from Ebony told him not to mention anything.

Gael put his arms around Ebony, "How was training?"

"It was okay. I kicked Dakota's ass...Um," She whispered, "Ace's dad stopped by..."

"And I'm guessing he was a dick again..." He whispered back.

"You guessed right. He told Ace he wasn't allowed to see Leo anymore and that he has to sleep here with the legion. I don't know if Ace will be allowed to go on the quest...I told him, even if they say he can't go he's going. We'll just kidnap him." She pressed closer to Gael, worried for her best friend.

"Of course we will." Gael promised.

Ebony smiled and kissed him, then watched Ace and Leo talk and eat. She was so worried about Ace and his problems then she could barely force herself to eat. Towards the end of the meal, Ace leaned over to whisper to her, "Do you think...you and Gael could hide somewhere for the afternoon so Leo and I can have alone time without people finding out? If anybody asks, we were off training?"

"Sure." She smiled then told Gael what Ace wanted.

Gael nodded, kissing her neck, "Gladly."

Ace smiled shyly at Leo before whispering, "So...bed?"

Leo smiled and nodded, "Sounds good to me."

He stood, and started towards the Argo II. Ace knew Leo was following him without looking back. Leo stared at Ace as they headed for the boat. He was perfect, he was beautiful and somehow Leo was able to grab him and hold on. Leo was never very good with people, except Ace.

Once they got to their room, Ace locked the door and lay down on their bed. His shirt rode up some, but his eyes drifted closed. Without really thinking about it, he started moving his left ankle in a circle, stretching out the recently healed break.

Leo lay next to him on the bed, "What's wrong?"

"I'm not suppose to be seeing you." Ace stated, cuddling into Leo's warmth.

Leo held him close, "What do you mean?"

"You're a Greek, you've made me your bitch, which means that my father doesn't like you, and doesn't want me to like you. Therefore, I'm not suppose to spend time with you." He opened his eyes to look up at Leo, "Also, I have to sleep with the cohort until we leave which his going to do everything in his power to make sure you leave without me."

"Well that's not going to happen. You're coming with us and we're spending time together whether he likes it or not."

"I know, Bello. We just have to careful about it. Secret, hush-hush, okay?"

"Okay." He kissed Ace hungrily then pulled back smiling.

Ace pouted, "No teasing."

Leo smiled, "Fine. I think it's your turn anyways." He winked at his boyfriend mischievously.

"My turn to tease?" The blonde raised an eyebrow, kissing Leo's neck.

He nodded, "Si. It's your turn to play some games..." The excitement shone in Leo's eyes, he loved being teased almost as much as doing the teasing.

Ace bit down hard, moving his hand to the front of Leo's jeans to rub him through the material. Leo moaned and started to take off his own pants. That made the boy smile. Ace stood with his feet on either side of Leo's legs to slowly strip himself. Leo moaned, his erection pressing against his underwear, as Ace began to strip for him.

Tease. Yeah, Ace could manage that. He pulled his shirt off slowly, before letting his hands roam over his own chest. Ace closed his eyes as he let himself drift into playful bliss as he ran his hands over his chest, gently caressing his scars, his sensitive places, before he let his hands slip down to his jeans.

Leo moaned biting his bottom lip, he whispered, "Ace..."

"You said you wanted me to tease..." Ace shrugged, slowly pushing the zipper of his jeans down.

"I know. But you're really good at it..."

His eyes flickered open, the red blazing with uncontrollable flames, "Of course...Nobody knows my body or you like me." Leo groaned and slipped off his shirt and boxers. Ace took his time slipping his jeans, and then his boxers down, making sure Leo got the whole scene. Leo whimpered at the sight of Ace and his friend. He smiled down at Leo, "What now?"

He shouted suddenly, "I want you!"

That made Ace blush brightly, but he moved down to sit in Leo lap, kissing him heatedly. Leo kissed back, biting his lip. The blonde growled, biting back hard.

This made Leo cry out, "Ace! I need you inside me!" Ace stopped, and looked at him curiously. "I want you to fuck me."

Slowly, hesitantly, Ace nodded, "Okay..." He kissed Leo lightly, running his fingers down to grip his cock tightly, "But after, you're taking me too."

Leo moaned when he felt Ace grab his manhood and nodded, "Okay."

He kissed down the Latino's chest, before sucking him gently with two fingers going down to press into him slowly. Leo moaned, his back arched. Gods Ace was good at this! Ace took his time, making sure to torture his lover while preparing him. He kept sucking the whole time, stopping only when he felt Leo getting close to his release.

Leo groaned, "No! Keep going..."

Ace shook his head, "In a minute. It'll be better once I'm in you." Leo whimpered. His cock was throbbing. He needed friction! Something! Anything to give him release! Ace kissed him, and pressed in slowly, moaning. It felt better than he would have expected. Leo groaned loudly, one or two hard thrusts and that would end it. Thats all he needed. But Ace stopped once he was fully seated, panting softly against Leo's neck.

Leo moaned softly. After several minutes, Ace asked softly, "Ready, Bello?"

He couldn't give a verbal answer, only a nod. With the nod, Ace started to move fast as opposed to the slow Leo had first given him. That better than he expected had coiled itself in his groin to create an amazing feeling that Ace found himself longing for more from.

Leo groaned, loving every single second. The feeling as Ace pounded him was amazing, "More! Ace! Harder!"

He followed the pleas eagerly, kissing around Leo's ear before whispering to him possessively, "Mine."

Leo nodded again, "Yes. I'm all yours, Ace. Pound me! Claim me!"

Ace went harder happily, pounding into Leo hard and fast. He kissed the boy hungrily, before one hand went down to pump his cock in time with the thrusts. Leo moaned, his cock was still throbbing. He was about to release, he was almost there! The blonde moaned, and despite his desperate desire for this to last longer he came. As his release hit, he growled in Leo's ear, "Come for me." Leo moaned loudly then came, hard.

Ace purred softly, kissing Leo's lips gently, "Good boy."

Leo kissed back, panting, "I love you."

"I love you too." He answered before pulling back as an idea hit him, making Ace smile brightly, "That's it!"

"What?"

"Father doesn't like us because he thinks I'm submissive. If we make him think I'm dominate in this relationship, then he'll at least like it better. I mean, you're still a Greek, and there's no way to change that, not that I'd want to, but it would at least be a step in the right direction." Ace's excitement had him bouncing slightly on the bed, and his words came out way too fast.

Leo laughed, "Okay. But how do we show that you're dominant? Its not like he can watch you fuck me or something..."

The idea made possessiveness creep up on Ace again, "No. Nobody's allowed to see that look you get besides me."

Leo smiled, "Want to see it again?" He still wanted more. He liked the feeling of Ace's cock filling him and he wanted that feeling again.

"Fast recovery." Ace laughed, Leo's promise to take him after they were done now completely forgotten. He straddled Leo's waist, and pinned his arms down above his head, "As to how he'd know...If you're limping later, it would help..."

Leo smiled, "Then make me limp." He reached up to bite Ace's lip.

Ace pushed back into him without further hesitation, watching happily as it made Leo squirm. Leo groaned, back arching, and hips bucking. The blonde growled, and bit Leo's shoulder."


	4. 4) Ebony Blake

Gael watched Ace and Leo slink off to the Argo II before asking Ebony, "What should we do this afternoon than?"

She smiled at her boyfriend mischievously, "Sneak out and take a look around San Francisco?"

He laughed, "Sure, beautiful."

Ebony took his hand and smiled. She pulled him into the shadows and a moment later they were standing by the Golden Gate Bridge. "How's this for beautiful?"

Gael took a minute to look up at it before smiling at her, "It is beautiful, but you still win."

Ebony smiled, wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him closer. She kissed him lightly at first, but then it became hungrier. His lips tasted so good! He answered the kiss eagerly, pulling her closer with his arms around her waist. She brushed her tongue along his lower lip in an attempt to deepen the kiss. Gael brushed his tongue against her's. Ebony moaned softly and pressed closer to him.

After a minute, Gael pulled back panting, "Are we going to explore or just make out in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge?"

Ebony pouted playfully when he pulled back, "Can we make out for a little while longer then explore?" She kissed him again.

He laughed, and kissed back happily. Ebony kissed him again, her hands moved to his chest and slipped under his shirt. He sighed at the touch, but pulled back slightly, "Here?"

"I...We could go somewhere else, but that would mean stopping what we're doing right now..." She laughed, knowing he wouldn't want to stop what they were doing.

That struck in Gael, he pressed closer to Ebony, whispering in her ear while grinding against her, "Here is good." She moaned and kissed up and down his neck. He pulled her further into the shadows, before moving his hands to her pants. Ebony nipped his neck slightly and pressed closer to him at the touch of his hand.

He slipped her pants down, moving his hand to rub her over her underwear. Ebony moaned and moved her kisses up his neck, along his jawline, and to his lips. She tugged at the bottom of his shirt, her signal for him to take off his shirt so she doesn't have to break the kiss to tell him to do it. Gael laughed softly, having to pull away from the kiss to pull it off anyway. As soon as his shirt was off, she kissed him and ran her hands along his chest and stomach again.

Gael had to bit his lip to keep from moaning loudly, hands moving to push his own pants down. Ebony smiled and pulled off her own shirt, the necklace with her charm representing Gael hung just above her breasts. That made him smile brightly, and he kissed it before pulling a condom out of his pants pocket.

She nodded to the condom, "Do you always keep one handy?"

He shrugged, "Just in case." Ebony smiled and kissed him. Then she jumped up, wrapping her legs around Gael's waist. Gael moaned, pressing her back against the bridge for support while slipping the condom on.

Ebony kissed him heatedly, resting her arms on his shoulders and tangling her hands in his hair. Gael smiled, kissing back while gently pressing into her. She moaned against the kiss, back arching slightly. He groaned, pressing in harder. Ebony smiled at him, he felt so good. She kissed him again, moaning, "...Gael..."

Gael bite his lower lip, moaning, and pressed closer to her, trying to get more skin contact. Ebony rubbed against his chest, planting kisses along his jawline. After a minute, he started rocking gently into her, moaning softly. Ebony pulled closer to him, needing more to get to her climax. He started going harder, and reached down to rub her.

She moaned, she was almost there. "Gael! I'm close!" Gael wasn't her first but she was his. Despite the other guys she had been with, only Gael could make her feel the way that she did. He was the first that she loved, and the only. When she put on the necklace with the cloud and sleeping eye charm she promised herself that she belonged only to Gael. She promised herself that Gael would be the only one she loved.

"A little more..." He groaned, thrusting harder and inching closer to his own release. Ebony kissed him roughly, biting his lip. That made him moan, and cum hard still rubbing her. She gripped his shoulders tightly and kissed him, while cumming.

Gael moaned, feeling her release, and kisses back while gently pulling out. Ebony sighed and rested her head on his chest. He held her close, petting her hair gently, "I love you."

She replied without hesitation, "I love you too." Her hand went to her necklace and she gripped it tightly.

After several minutes, he let her down, "We should go if we actually want to see anything."

Ebony sighed, "Okay." She slowly began getting dressed.

Ebony took Gael's hand and they headed towards the pier. It had carnival rides at the end and shops lined the way to the rides. This was amazing! She smiled at him and kissed his cheek.

Gael smiled back, keeping his arm securely around her shoulders. He asked, pulling a credit card out of his pocket, "Wanna do some of the rides?"

Her mouth became dry and pasty at the thought of riding that huge swirling rollercoaster. Ebony could handle monsters and demigods any day of the week. But rollercoasters? No way. That would never happen.

"Um...I...Maybe later?" She looked at him and shrugged slightly. Ebony did not want Gael knowing that the very thought of getting on that machine caused her knees to go weak and hands to shake.

Gael shrugged, "Sure, whatever you-" He stopped as he caught sight of a man standing in the shadows of one of the rollercoasters, "Busted?"

Ebony turned her attention to where Gael was looking, "Shit. Yeah, guess we're busted..." She gripped his hand tighter.

"Is that your dad?" He was trying to keep the fear from his voice, but of course she could hear it.

"Yeah. I'd recognize him anywhere. Whenever he's in the shadows...They get darker, colder..."

"Should...we go talk to him?"

Ebony sighed, "I guess. We're gonna have to soon or later." She lead Gael over to the shadows where her father was standing. She was cringing, waiting for what he had to say. She learned that any time Hades had to talk to her it was because she fucked up or her life was going to get turned around.

Gael tried to hide his fear as they approached Hades, but the god saw right through it. He smirked at the demigod, before turning to Ebony, "Why aren't you training?"

"I'm taking the day off."

"And this is how you choose to spend your day off? Procreating with a spume in the shadows?"

Gael didn't exactly know what Hades said, but the tone behind those words made his meaning very clear; the son of Morpheus wasn't good enough for his daughter.

Ebony gripped Gael's hand tighter and glared at Hades, "Yes. There is nothing I'd rather do on my days off of training than spend time with Gael."

Hades looked the two over before shaking his head, "Not anymore."

"What are you talking about?" There was panic in her voice, but she did her best to mask it.

The god watched Gael's grip tighten in her hand, "Not anymore."

"No, you can't do this!"

"Of course I can. You should find a Roman boy."

"Should that doesn't mean I'm going to."

Hades stepped closer to them, the shadows clinging to him like a cloak, "You will."

Ebony didn't back down, "Or what?" There was a challenge in her voice.

"You don't want to find out." He left it hanging there as the god disappeared into the shadows back the way he'd come.

Ebony felt a terrible feeling of dread wash over her. How could her father to this to her. She turned to Gael, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Hades could torture her, do anything he wanted to her but...Not Gael. He couldn't take him away from her! He hugged her gently, rubbing her back, "It'll be okay..."

Her breath came in ragged gasps. "Gael...I can't. I can't lose you!"

"I'm not going anywhere." He promised, even though he was scared shitless.

She held him close, as if when she let go he would disappear. "Let's just go back to camp..."

Gael nodded, "Okay."

Ebony took his hand and headed towards the shadows. How in the Hades am I going to fix this? "I...What are we going to do?" She stepped into the shadows and emerged in Camp Jupiter.

There was just one problem. Gael wasn't with her. She spun in a circle, "Gael?" He must have got left behind. Dammit Hades! She turned around and stepped back into the shadows. She found herself back in San Francisco, standing in front of Gael again.

"What was that?" He demanded, "I felt the beginning tug, but then you were gone, and I was still here."

"I don't know! He must have told the shadows you aren't allowed to come or something!" Maybe she was just emotionally strung out, but Gael's tone made it seem as though he was blaming her for getting left behind.

He realized that he was just stressing her out more, and looked down guiltily, "Sorry, I just hate that feeling...when people disappear."

She took his hand, "Come on." She pulled him away from the pier. "It looks like we're walking, baby." She forced a smile to try and lighten the mood.

"That's a long walk...We'll get lucky to be back by dinner." He put an arm around her shoulders, and started walking.

"Well. At least we can have more time to ourselves..." She kissed him gently.

"Yeah..."


	5. 5) Leo Valdez

Leo walked to dinner next to Ace with a limp. Gods his ass hurt to bad! He hoped that this worked and that Ace's dad would allow them to be together, finally. The blonde had his arm around Leo's shoulders, trying to exude an air of confidence, but this was new territory for him, and the more they acted the parts the more he feared this wasn't going to work.

Jason smiled at the two, and walked over to them, "What happened to Leo?"

"Leo is taking his turn to be submissive."

"Father said I can't see him anymore." Ace filled in.

"That makes more sense." Jason answered after a minute, before turning to Leo, "It's gonna suck on your end though."

"I don't mind. As long as I get to be with Ace."

Ace fought down a blush, and Jason raised an eyebrow, "Oh yeah, this is gonna work. At least we leave again in a few days."

Leo laughed, "Heh heh. About that..." He played with gears nervously.

"What did you do?" The son of Jupiter asked instantly.

"He didn't do anything...Father is going to do everything in his power to keep me here." Ace muttered, not meeting his brother's eyes.

"We're not leaving you." Jason stated, "You found Camp Half Blood for a reason. You're meant to go with us." Ace shrugged, like he didn't really believe it, "I'm not leaving you." Jason took Ace's left arm from around Leo's shoulders, and ran his finger over the scar in the other boy's palm, "That's what this says, remember? We're brothers until the end, and I'm not leaving you."

Ace smiled slightly, and nodded, "Okay."

Leo ignored the bromancing moment, "What do you mean..." He stopped when the food passed by, "...Nevermind..."

The elder blonde ran his fingers through Leo's hair, "What is it, Bello?"

He started again, "What's the-" He was interrupted when Gael and Ebony walked in.

She walked straight over to Ace, "Ace. I need to talk to you." She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him outside. Gael walked up to them and watched as Ebony walked out the door.

Leo looked around, "Are there going to be anymore interruptions?!" He paused and started again, "What does the scar mean?"

Jason showed him an identical scar on his own left palm, "It's where we became blood brothers. Why does she need to talk to Ace?"

Leo shrugged and looked at Gael, "What happened?"

"Hades came to visit again." The son of Morpheus looked exhausted, "He said that Ebony should find a Roman boy to procreate with."

Leo looked at him, "Oh. That's why she needs to talk to Ace. They're both having daddy issues."

"I guess...I just hope they don't decide to work together to fix them, because that would screw both of us over." Gael grumbled, crashing on one of the couches.

"Why are you so tired?" Jason raised an eyebrow at the boy's grumpy behavior.

"Her dad stopped letting me through the shadows. We just walked back here from Golden Gate. Thank the gods we didn't go farther."

Leo couldn't help but laugh, "Um, how would they work together to fix their problems? I mean, Ace and I pretty much have our problem solved."

Gael shrugged, "I don't know. I try to keep from analyzing what goes on in their minds."

The blonde looked away from his best friend, "And...I'm not sold on this plan working..."

"It'll work. At least, it should buy us enough time to get Ace on the Argo II."

"Which brings up another issue with how we're getting him there." Jason pointed out.

Leo shrugged, "I mean, he belongs on the quest. He's an original member. He has to come. If the Senate says 'no', fine. We'll kidnap him and sneak him on board." He look pointedly at Gael, "Kind of like Gael did..." He smirked at the country boy.

Gael's exhaustion was starting to get to him as he slipped into his country accent, "I ain't need nobody to kidnap me!"

Leo laughed, "Amigo, you're exhausted. Go to bed."

The son of Morpheus sighed, sitting up slowly, "Yeah...Tell Eb for me?"

"Sure." Jason agreed, watching as Gael made his way towards the Argo II.


	6. 6) Ace Kindle

Ace stared at Ebony like she'd gone crazy. Just the idea disgusted him, "We can't, Eb. What about Leo and Gael?"

"I know. I know. It's stupid...I'm just...I'm scared of what my dad will do. He didn't say what it was but it definitely wasn't an empty threat"

He sighed, "I know, and if there was another way to help you I would, but I can't do that to Leo...I've never felt this in love before, and I don't want to risk losing him."

Something told her Leo wouldn't mind, but she understood what Ace meant. "Okay. Well, any other ideas? I mean, I have to show Hades I have a Roman and soon...What about Dakota? I could..." She swallowed hard, "Lead him on." At Ace's shocked look she blurted out, "Just until I'm off my dad's radar!"

"I got that, but Dakota? Really? Honey, you can do so much better than that kool-aid head. I mean, look at you! You're a badass! Any straight Roman in his right mind would want you. We just have to show you off some. Beat some warriors up, and they'll be flocking."

"Okay." She didn't feel that confident... "How do we start?"

He looked her over, "Tomorrow, we do training where the others are. Show you off. We can get Jason to let you beat him up...Percy maybe too..." Ace trailed off as he noticed his dad approaching, "Oh great..."

Ebony looked up, "Lovely. He always shows up when we're together...Do you think..." She shook her head, "Nevermind." He got closer, "What do you think he wants?"

"To be annoying." Ace muttered, "Make sure I'm following the rules, which of course, I'm not."

"Well here he comes. So at least pretend you're following the rules." She became silent as he stood in front of them, staring them down.

The blonde put his best You're-ruining-my-life sulk face on as he turned to his father, "Did you want something?"

"Just checking in." The son of Mars answered, "Where have you been all day?"

Ace didn't miss a beat, "Eb and I were training." He linked arms with her, "She's getting good. She beat Dakota today."

Ebony smiled at Ace's father, praying to the gods that he would buy it, "Yeah." She smiled at Ace, "But that's only because I have a great teacher."

He looked between the two teens before nodded, whispering to Ace as he walked past, "Why don't you try her? She seems to like you."

Ace turned to her slowly once he was gone, "So...back to that crazy idea..."

"...What about it?" She looked at his dad who was watching them from a distant, probably waiting for Ace to make a move, "You mean...He wants..." She couldn't even finish her sentence.

He looked pale, but nodded slowly, "'She seems to like you.' Seriously, he's so thick."

"Well. It looks like he's waiting for you to make a move. Should I pretend that we're flirting or something?"

Ace still looked on the fence about it, but slowly nodded, "Let's...go back to dinner..."

Ebony glanced at his dad out of the corner of her eye then giggled and started playing with her hair, "Okay!" She muttered under her breath, "Its better in theory than practice..."

He put his arm around her waist, a sick feeling settling in his stomach, "Most plans are."

Ebony resisted the urge to wiggle out of his grasp, she could feel his dad's eyes on their backs. "...This sucks..." She growled.

"At least I'm the sex you're generally attracted to." Ace muttered back, "Sure I'm bi, but I like guys better."

"You're my sassy, gay best friend..." She sucked in a breath, "Lets just get this over with. He's staring at us..." She laughed again, bit her bottom lip, and played with her hair more.

"We want other people to see too." Ace started leading her towards Leo and Jason with an arm tightly around her waist.

Leo stared at them but Ebony stopped him from saying anything, "Don't worry. We'll explain in a minute..." Leo had no response, just a dropped jaw.

Ace looked at Leo apologetically mouthing 'I'm sorry' before turning to Ebony his hands moving to either side of her face to lightly press their lips together. That sick feeling in his stomach got worse at just the light brush, and the sensation in his groin was like he suddenly had to pee...really bad. Oh, gods, blatter work! The last thing he needed was for his blatter to suddenly decide to empty itself just because he was kissing somebody other than Leo.

The heroes around them stopped talking, and turned to watch the show. Romans were always interested in entertainment with dinner, that's why they offered food at the Colosseum. Ace would have rathered lions trying to eat him than this. He could see the hurt expression in Leo's eyes, and it felt like his heart was breaking in two right as they stood there.

Leo looked away as Ebony kissed back, moving her arms around his boyfriend's neck. Of course he had figured out what they were doing, but the knowledge didn't make watching it any better. Ace loves him not her, but even that thought couldn't keep the tears from collecting in his eyes.

Ebony pulled away, face bright red with embarrassment for what they just did. She just betrayed Gael, and Ace crushed Leo. The hurt was right there in his eyes.

The proud look on his father's face just made Ace feel worse. There was no way he would be able to eat after that, it was hard enough to keep from puking right there in front of everybody. Leo wasn't looking at him, while Jason seemed to be with the rest of the Romans in gawking at them like they'd just single-handedly made the world explode.

He looked at Ebony, and shook his head, "I can't do that again...I'm sorry."

He didn't wait for her to answer before turning around, and running out. There wasn't anywhere he was going specifically, just away from the people staring at him like he was part of a freak show, and away from Leo's pain that he'd caused.

Ace didn't keep track of how long he'd run before he tripped, and fell into the soft grass. Lacking the energy required to get up, he just lay there, and finally let the tears come.

Clarisse walked up to Ace, "What happened back there?"

He looked up at her, and slowly sat up, "I-I don't...Father said, and..."

"And so you decided to kiss Ebony..." She sat down next to him.

Ace pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on them, "It was originally her idea...I told her it was crazy, and then he, and...things got overblown."

"...You should go talk to Leo...""

"He's gonna be mad." The blonde muttered, wiping at his tears.

Clarisse looked at him, "You need to talk to him right away. You can't let this fester.."

Ace nodded weakly, closing his eyes for a few minutes before standing up, his voice suddenly calm, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks."

Clarisse, being a daughter of Ares, wasn't one to hug but she couldn't resist the urge. She stood up as well and pulled Ace into a hug. It took him a few seconds to respond by hugging back. He then turned slowly back towards the dining pavilion. She followed after him, praying to all the gods that this worked and that Leo wasn't too upset with Ace.


	7. 7) Leo Valdez

Although Leo knew the kiss wasn't real, that there wasn't any meaning to it he couldn't help but feel heartbroken. Ace was his one and only, his one true love, his soul-mate. And he kissed someone else. Even though he knew there was nothing behind the kiss, the way he had his arms around Ebony...It didn't feel right. It hurt. It broke his heart.

Ace walked back into the pavilion with Clarisse. He was still beautiful, there was no way to change that, but there was a sense completely un-Ace like about the way he walked with his head down so as to not meet anybody's eyes, tear tracks still stained his cheeks, and there was a light pink to his nose.

Leo walked over to the boy he loved and lifted his head so he could look at him, "Ace."

Just that word threatened to make Ace start crying again, but he took a deep breath as he pushed them away with all his might, "Bello..."

He took Ace's hands again, he wasn't upset or hurt anymore, he didn't care about his own heart. He only cared about Ace's. "Ace. It's okay. I love you."

Ace shook his head, "C-can we...do this s-somewhere a-alone?"

"Of course." Leo took his hand and guided Ace back to the Argo II.

More for the comfort of machinery than anything else, the blonde headed down into the engine room before looking at Leo again, "It's not okay."

Leo touched his arm gently, "It is. Ace, I understand why you did it."

"But it hurt you..."

"At the time it hurt...But you had to do it. Ace, I forgive you. I still love you. I still want to be with you."

Ace shook his head again, starting to cry, "No...no you're suppose to be mad..."

Leo looked confused, "What do you mean, 'I'm supposed to be mad'?"

"I screwed up!" He tried to yell but mixed with his tears it barely came out louder than normal, "I did something wrong! You...you're suppose to get mad!"

"Ace, I'm not like your dad. I'm not going to get pissy because of something that you had to do even though it hurt me." This is ridiculous! He pulled Ace into him and kissed him gently. But the gentleness turned into a burning hunger and passion. Ace tried to stop himself, but he kissed Leo back desperately. This is what kissing was suppose to be like. Pure passion laced with love. His arms found their way around Leo's neck.

Leo moaned against Ace's soft lips. He loved Ace more than anything in the world. He would do anything to see him smile and laugh again. Leo pulled Ace closer to him, he needed to be as close to Ace as possible. As if this closeness would convey to Ace what Leo would do for him.

Around them, the engine of the Argo II was beeping and whizzing with its constant chatter, but Ace was so entranced by the kiss the noises faded into the background with Leo's moan at the forefront of his mind. More the wolfish dominant part of his mind growled, but Ace pulled away, "Bello..."

Leo looked at him, almost disappointed as he pulled away, "What?"

Part of Ace still wanted to argue that Leo should be mad at him, punish him somehow, but instead he just suggested innocently, "I was just thinking this would be better with fewer clothes..."

Leo growled, "Sounds good to me."

Before he could stop himself, Ace pushed the shirt off of Leo with a feral look in his eyes. He kissed Leo again desperately. Their bodies moved together in perfect unison, grinding together to make the boys moan. Ace jumped, wrapping his legs around his boyfriend's waist, "Take me. Come on! I need you, Bello."

Leo's hands on his ass certainly didn't help his current state of horniness as they pressed even closer together, Ace running his hands along Leo's chest. He liked that the other boy wasn't super muscular, still maintaining a little bit of fat while still being lean, and nowhere near over weight. He kissed the Hispanic harsher, biting his lip, before lowering himself to the floor.

Ace didn't stop when his feet met the cement, he kept going, kissing down Leo's chest as he slowly get to his knees with his face right next to his boyfriend's still denim covered erection. He instantly pushed the annoying fabrics away in favor of kissing along his cock.

The Latino moaned, gripping his boyfriend's blonde hair tightly as Ace went down on him, sucking hard. The blonde had gotten way too good at that over the past month, and soon felt Leo tensing up to cum. But Ace pulled away, smiling sweetly up at him, "We don't want you finishing before you fuck me...that would make things less fun."

Leo growled, pulling Ace back up, and pressing his chest into the wall so Leo could grind against him, "We wouldn't want things to be less fun..."

Ace whined, hands going to get his own bottom half undressed, "Nope, as much fun as possible please."

As soon as Ace's jeans were out of the way, Leo was pressing into the tight heat. He could never get over how breathtaking sex with the blonde was. The soft yelp only told him that Ace really didn't want him to stop, "More, please. Deeper, bello!"

Leo complied, pounding into Ace with everything he had while forming a hickey on the boy's shoulder blade. Ace tried to grip the wall, but his hands kept slipping. Thankfully, it was still dinner which meant they were alone on ship, or else Ace's loud moans of pleasure would have caused a Greek demigod uprising. One of Leo's hands slipped around to pump Ace's cock as he pounded the boy's sweet spot brutally.

He could feel Ace tightening, his muscles clenching as he was right on the edge of release...so Leo pulled away. Ace made a whining scream was the pleasure stopped, and the feeling of emptiness fell on him, "L-leo...?"

"Not yet." Was the Latino's only answer as he pulled Ace until his back hit one of the machines. The soft click went unnoticed by either of them, as Leo went down on his knees. Before he started sucking, he looked up at Ace, "Don't cum yet."

Ace nodded weakly, but any vocal response he wanted to make was drowned by his loud moan as Leo wrapped his lips around the boy's member. Pleasure coursed through Ace, the need to release building up within him. But Ace bit his lower lip hard enough to bleed, tears springing into his eyes, but he didn't cum. He had no idea how long Leo was down there before standing up, and pressing Ace against the machine even more, "Good."

"Please." The Roman practically sobbed, "Please, I need to cum."

Leo pressed into him again, and kissed his tears away. He started thrusting, and after a minute whispered to his lover, "Cum. Cum for me, baby."

The scream that followed sent chills down Leo's back as he felt Ace's release. His cum was warm between them, his eyes screwed shut, his thighs trembling, and his hole tightened around Leo triggering his own mind blowing orgasm.

As they came down from their releases, both boys found themselves on their knees on the floor, panting hard. Leo looked at the tear tracks on his lover's cheeks, and kissed him softly, "Too much?"

Ace looked at him, a fire burning in his eyes as he kissed Leo heatedly, "More like, lets go to bed so you can do it again."


	8. 8) Gael Hastings

At least Gael had found his way back into Ebony's dreams. Once she'd fully recovered from the concussion, he'd been able to return. There was no way Hades could stop them from seeing each other there. They spent that night together at a made up prom for a made up school dancing and laughing together.

As such, Gael found himself in a much better mood during breakfast than the evening before. He held Ebony close as they ate, when he caught sight of Ace and Leo walking together from the Argo II, he whispered to her, "I thought they weren't suppose to see each other."

"Um...Yeah. They got everything fixed." It seemed as though Ebony looked a little nervous.

Instead of questioning her further, Gael let it go in favor of offering her a piece of bacon, "Well, that's good."

She took the bacon from him and smiled, "Yeah." Then she turned to Ace and Leo and smiled as they sat down. "It really is."

The boys were holding on tighter to each other than normal as they cuddled close on the couch. Their group was getting a lot of even stranger looks than normal, but Gael just figured it was because of Ace and Leo being so obvious that they were in love. He kept expecting Ace's dad to show up from nowhere to yell at them.

Half way through the meal, several screams were heard from where the Argo II was docked. Gael sat up, and looked at the other three, "What's going on?"

Ebony instinctively put on hand on her sword, ready to take it out if necessary, "I don't know. We should check it out." She stood quickly and headed for the Argo.

All three boys followed her. Gael held his knives ready while Ace was prepared with his Spatha out. Leo held a large rectangular shield on his left arm which Ace must have given him since it was clearly a Roman design.

As they approached, the problem became even more confusing. The Argo II was firing down on the camp. Ace watched fearfully as the catapult he'd worked so hard on fired down on his people with exact precision he'd spent hours on making that way. The Romans ran around in surprised terror, but it wouldn't take long for Reyna to arrive and get her troops into defensive formation.

"Who was still on board?" Gael asked, watching the scene.

"Most everybody." Ace answered, it was still early morning after all and they were teenagers, "I think only us and Percy aren't."

"Well, who would want to fire on the Romans? It has to be a malfunction or something." Ebony looked at the chaos around her. "We need to get back on the ship before they try and kill us."

"Too late." Gael muttered as Dakota came towards them with his own spatha out.

Gael, Ebony, and Ace got ready for a battle with Leo having been pushed behind them by his boyfriend. Leo sneaked around his friends and hauled ass for the Argo II to stop this.

Ebony pulled out her sword, "We need to get to the boat!"

Percy ran up to them with his sword out, Frank and Hazel on either side of him with their own weapons out, "What's going on?"

"We don't know." Gael answered, "But we need to leave now."

The son of Poseidon nodded before starting to make his way through the crowd, making sure to not kill anybody while still knocking Romans out of the way. The rest followed his lead. Leo went up first, quickly followed by the others. Gael helped Ebony onto the rope ladder before he felt a sudden stabbing pain in his lower back that made him stop climbing.

Ebony looked down and saw Dakota stab Gael, she screamed out, "Gael!"

He tried to keep climbing, but with every move the pain flared up. The edges of his vision started to darken, and blur, "Eb...I..."

"Gael, no!" She jumped back onto the ladder to pull him up. Ebony, while holding onto the ladder with one hand reached down to grab Gael's hand tightly. "Gael, hold on!"

He tried, but the Spatha was still thrust through his back, making him lose his strength hard as he tried to hold onto her hand. Dakota was still behind him, trying to pull the other boy down. The son of Morpheus looked up at her, eyes drifting closed, "I'm...I'm sorry..."

Tears were streaming down her face as she struggled to hold on to him, but the second his eyes closed his grip loosened and he slipped through her fingers. She screamed at the top of her lungs, "Dakota! You bastard!" Gael fell to the ground and was immediately taken prisoner.


	9. 9) Ebony Blake

Ebony pulled herself back up the ladder and cut the rope before any more Romans could climb up. Tears were streaming down her face, her throat felt constricted, she couldn't breathe. Gael was gone...Gael was gone...And she was going to kill Dakota, no matter what the cost. She looked at her friends, they were staring at her, confused as to what happened.

The commotion had made the rest of the Greeks come out on deck except Leo and Ace were downstairs. It was Jason who finally asked gently, "Eb...where's Gael?"

"He's...gone. Dakota stabbed him." She choked back a sob, "They took him prisoner."

"At least he's alive." Jason tried to sound hopeful for her, but he knew what the Romans were capable of far better than the rest of them.

"I don't know...The wound...It seemed really bad. I doubt the Romans heal their prisoners..."

"They do if they have a reason too."

"We have to get him back!" Her hands were shaking, she was a mess.

He hugged her gently as Annabeth steered them away from New Rome and the weaponry finally calmed, "We will."

The two boys climbed back onto the deck, silently praying nobody would notice them. Ebony glanced at them but turned her attention back to Annabeth, since she was steering the boat. "We have to go back!" she screamed, her voice was hoarse. She pointed off the side of the boat towards New Rome, "We have to save him!"

"Ebony..." Annabeth sighed, "We can't just go back. We'd all die."

She shook her head and pushed past Ace and Leo. Ebony ran to her bunk and flopped on her bed. She closed her eyes, praying that Gael was searching for her dream. She curled up into the fetal position and let all of her emotions out. Her heart was breaking, sobs came out and made her entire body shake. Gael was gone and who knew if she would get him back!

A few minutes later she managed to make herself fall asleep. Her dream was pitch black for a while without her really knowing how long, before a dull red light started to emit from where a boy lay on his back. His black hair stayed glued to his face with sweat that would have also plastered his clothes down if he'd been wearing any. His eyes were closed, and a stab wound in his lower back was covered in blood that also ran down his sides, back, and legs emitting the light.

For a moment she was excited to see him, then she saw the shape he was in. Ebony ran to him and kneeled in front of him. She brushed the hair off of his forehead gently, "Gael?"

Her voice made him gasp suddenly, moving his head to the side to try to look at her, but his eyes wouldn't open. His back arched, and his fists clenched. Ebony kissed him softly, crying, and put her hands on his cheeks. She rubbed the side of his face with her hand, and then the other pet his hair. "Gael...I'm here." She kissed his forehead, "It's okay."

He kept bleeding, making the room slowly brighter from the red glow. Gael opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, he seemed to be trying to struggle up onto his arms, but he fell back down after a few seconds.

She looked at the blood and the red glow. Can you die in dreams? Is this even a dream? Either way she had to do something. She had to stop the bleeding, and keep him alive. Even if it was a dream her instincts told her to try and help him. His girlfriend looked around for something to stop the bleeding but couldn't find anything. So she quickly took off her own shirt and pressed it to his back.

Gael didn't react to that as he slowly sank down onto his chest again. The closer he got to death, the brighter the blood on him shone. It was slowly, but steadily getting brighter. Ebony cursed out loud, "It's not working!" She was shaking again and crying again. A streak of salt and water slid down her cheek. It hung on the bottom of her jaw before dropping onto his forehead and sliding off. He was dying and there was nothing she could do!

Suddenly, the light started dimming again. Underneath her shirt, the wound was hardening over, scabbing into a hard clot that spanned most of the left side of his lower back. Ebony gasped and pulled away quickly. She looked at Gael and wiped her tears away. He was healing, although, it was obvious it was nothing she did.

Ebony kissed him again, softly, "I love you" The 'you' came out as a sob, she rested her forehead on his and prayed to the gods that he would hold out. That he could live until they got back to him.

When the light was almost out, Gael's brown eyes opened slowly. His breathing was ragged, but he smiled weakly as he started to fade into the blackness, "Ebony..." Then he was gone.

"Gael!" There was a panic in her voice as he faded away. She wanted more time with him, to see him. Thankfully he wasn't dead. Being a child of Hades finally came in handy, she could tell if he was dead and he wasn't. Thank the gods.

Suddenly she woke in her room on the Argo II. She was hot and sweaty, her heart ached. Ebony sat up in her bed, and wondered if she should tell anyone what happened. She decided not to tell anyone and just went to shower instead.


	10. 10) Ace Kindle

Ace paced the deck worriedly. Gael was gone, and his best friend was going to hate him for causing her boyfriend to be left with enemy soldiers however much of an accident it was on his account...When had that happened? They weren't enemy soldiers, they were his kin. After they understood that firing had been an accident they'd let up...they had to. The blonde knew better though. There was no way the Romans would even let them explain.

He felt sure they wouldn't kill Gael since he had information they could use, but he would never give it up, and Roman torture didn't stop just because it wasn't working. They kept at it until they either of the information or their victim was dead. If Gael didn't tell them where Camp Half Blood was, they'd kill him trying to get that knowledge.

Ebony came out of her room looking for Leo. She had to know why the ship malfunctioned, especially since its the reason why her boyfriend got left behind. "Leo?!"

Leo looked nervously at her, "Hi..."

Ebony looked at Ace who was walking over to them, then back to Leo, "What happened to the boat? Why did it start firing on the city?"

"I-It..." He looked to Ace for help. His eyes begging him for help, to bail him out of this mess.

Ace looked sheepish, and couldn't seem to meet her eyes from embarrassment, "We may have accidently bumped the little switch thingy that may control the ship's defensive system, and might have put them on autopilot during our makeup last night..."

"I hate you." She was beyond angry, "The reason why Gael might die is because you have no self-control!"

Leo opened his mouth to try and say something but she stopped him, "Save it Leo." Black flames flickered in her eyes. "You. Two. Are. Unbelieveable." She shook her head, trying to hold back tears, "Because you two are irresponsible Gael is being tortured..."

Ace was staring down at the wooden deck beneath their feet. Of course she was right, all of it. Gael could died because they couldn't keep it in their pants. It was Jason who came to save them as he approached slowly, "Eb, we're going to get him back. Everything will be fine."

The thing was, Ace could tell he actually believed it. Jason was usually their optimist growing up because he believed they could do anything they put their minds too.

"This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for them." The resentment was plain in her voice, "If only they could have kept their dicks in their pants!" She was yelling again. Ebony pushed past them, "I hate you both and I don't think I can ever forgive you..." she looked straight at Ace when she said that then walked to the kitchen to get a drink and food.

He's tried to prepare himself for her words since Ace had known they would come eventually, but her words would have blasted holes in any wall he could have built. It took him a minute to look up from the deck. Jason still stood there awkwardly facing the other two, and all the others on board were staring at them. Hazel seemed scandalized by the sex talk, but Ace could tell they were all blaming him and Leo. Of course, it was their fault. His more specifically. He'd hit the switch. A part of his mind was saying that even Leo blamed him for this situation.

Ace didn't give his younger brother or anybody else the chance to say anything, before he retreated quickly into his room where he instantly broke down. He lay down on the bed, sobbing into his pillow. It wasn't plain in his mind if he was crying for losing Gael or losing Ebony.

He hadn't cried this much in a month since he was a little kid, and cried over almost everything. First his mom's death, then Jason couldn't be there for him, almost losing Leo the night before, and now with losing both Gael and Ebony along with fear creeping into his mind again about Leo getting tired with him.


	11. 11) Gael Hastings

Gael's eyes flickered open slowly as he tried weakly to move his arms, but ropes scraped against his wrists causing them to start to burn. His feet were tied with ropes as well, and it took him a few seconds to realize he was naked, and very much not dead. Not dead was good, but everything else seemed to scream classic horror movie. As he came to his senses, Gael was able to analyze the room. It was dark, seemed to be underground with brick walls hung with a variety of weapons from ancient blades to modern saws. Around the room stood other binding devices, some with cuffs spiked on the inside.

Fear started building within him as memories started flooding back. The ship attacking, then trying to escape, and blacking out on the ladder as somebody stabbed him...Gael couldn't remember who had stabbed him, but the image of Ebony still blazed in his mind with her crying while desperately reaching for him over the edge of the boat. He was at the mercy of the Romans, and something told Gael that they weren't going to be very merciful.

His back felt fine, though, so obviously they had healed him. Probably just so they could execute him slowly in front of everybody. Gael remembered reading about Roman execution methods during some school assignment. If they still went with the ancient ways, his death could take weeks, and they usually involved very disgusting amounts of his own shit. At the time, they'd proven fascinating, but now just made him want to puke at the idea of dying that way.

Octavian opened the door and strode into the room. He smiled maniacally at the boy sitting in the chair. Before they started with the traditional torture methods, he wanted to see how a effective a beating would be.

Octavian nodded to a boy standing with his arms crossed, "Eric." The boy stepped forward, he was bulky. This kid has muscle and he was going to use it on Gael. The son of Morpheus was looking in between the two as if he couldn't see them, and looked perfectly calm despite the desperate thumping of him heart. They were going to do it anyway, and he wasn't about to give them the satisfaction of getting to him first.

The Roman threw a well aimed punch at Gael's face, hitting him in the eye. Octavian asked him in a calm but dangerous voice, "Where is Camp Half-Blood?"

Gael's head snapped to the side from the force of the punch, but he gave no reaction beyond that to either the hit or the question. Eric hit him again, this time a hook punch into his gut, Octavian asked him again, "Where is Camp Half-Blood?" This time, more anger was creeping into his voice.

That time, he couldn't keep the soft groan of pain in, but still made no answer, doing his best to ignore the other boys. Frustrated Octavian went to the table that had an assortment of knives. He picked up a knife and brushed his fingertip along the serrated edge, up to the tip. He grinned devilishly at Gael and walked over to his prisoner.

The door opened, and the sound made Gael sigh internally until he saw who was coming down the stairs. Ace's dad went over to Octavian, whispering, "Is he talking?"

"No." He glanced at Gael, "But we'll get him too."

He looked at the knife in Octavian's hands before glancing at Gael, and nodding, "Good...I want Ace back home before those Greeks poison his mind anymore."

Gael looked up at his friend's name, glaring at the two with pure hatred. The idea of telling them off was so tempting, but he grudgingly maintained his vow of silence. Octavian nodded, "I'll get him talking." He walked up to Gael and placed the blade against his forehead, "Last chance to tell us where that stinking camp of your's is before I start cutting."

Finally, Gael spoke, his voice raspy from lack of water, "I do have something to say...'Of all animals, the boy is the most unmanageable' Ibid."

Octavian glared at him, "Fine." He pressed the knife into Gael's soft skin and slide it across his forehead. The blood started flowing immediately and dripped into his eye. Octavian wiped away the blood and put on a face of fake sadness, then smiled. "Ready to talk now?"

"'I wish only I may see your head stroked down with a slipper.' Terence." Gael growled the Greek insult as if it was the most dreadful thing ever thought of.

Octavian growled then slapped him, "You..." He took the knife and pressed the tip into Gael's temple then slide the blade down to his jaw.

His scream tried to escape, but Gael bit his own lip hard to keep it in. As he spoke again, his gaze went directly to Ace's father, "'Mothers are fonder of their children than fathers, as they have a more painful share of their production, and they are more certain that they art their own.' Aristotle."

The son of Mars stepped closer to the bound boy in anger, answering simply, "'Put not thy faith in any Greek.' Euripides."

Octavian punched Gael again, "Where is the camp?!" He punched him over and over again until sweat started to bead up on his forehead. Then, realizing he lost his cool he stepped back and wiped the sweat from his brow. He turned back to the table covered with knives, waiting for Gael's response.

He could feel the bruises forming in front of everybody while blood gushed from his cuts, but Gael didn't say anything. Octavian picked up another knife, bigger, sharper. He pressed the blade to Gael's cheek and created a slash along his cheekbone. Unable to keep it in, Gael screamed, fists clenching, and his eyes screwing closed.

Ace father grabbed the boy's chin, making him look at the man, "Where is my son?"

Despite the pain, Gael laughed, "Your son? Your son hates you! Ace is in love with Leo, and all you've done since finding out is be a bastard to him about it! He's been trying with everything he has to make you proud of him, but eventually he will choose Leo over you. Love always wins in the end."

He wanted to believe the last sentence, Gael knew he was going to die protecting the location of his home. Die, and never be allowed to see Ebony again. Love couldn't win here, but he hoped it would for the two boys. Maybe Ebony could finally please her father by getting with a Roman boy if Gael was out of the picture.

Octavian looked at Ace's dad. Waiting for a signal to cut or hit the prisoner of war again. Slowly, the son of Mars released Gael, and nodded at the blonde. Octavian pressed the blade to Gael's arm roughly and made a deep cut spanning the length of his arm. This one was sure to leave a scar. Again, Gael screamed, but louder this time. The scream pleased Octavian and he looked at Ace's dad for approval on his torture methods.

The man was stone faced, staring down at their captive as the blood gushed out. Gael's head was started to get dizzy again from blood loss. He could barely hear the son of Mars saying, "He's going to bleed out like this."

Octavian growled, "Fine." He looked at a Roman soldier who left the room then came back a moment later with nectar and ambrosia. Octavian took it from him and then gave it to Gael. The boy chewed without thinking about it. They could have poisoned him, and he would have taken it. His head nodded down so that his chin rested on his chest as he blacked out.


	12. 12) Ebony Blake

When sleep was granted to Ebony she saw Gael again. When she saw him she smiled slightly, just seeing him alive still made her happy. "Gael!" She ran to him, he was strapped in a chair, and as she got closer she noticed the cuts on his face and arms.

Gael looked up at the sound of her voice groggily, but he seemed to get more awake when he saw her. He shook his head, looking scared, "Eb, no!"

She stepped back shocked, "What? Gael. It's me." There was obvious pain in her voice, at the scared look on Gael's face.

It was like he saw something she didn't all around them, like he still thought he was awake, "Eb...they'll hurt you! Run!"

Ebony was confused for a moment then realized Gael didn't know it was a dream, "Gael. Its just a dream. Nothing is going to happen to me." She walked to him and kissed him gently.

He shook his head, "They have knives, Eb...They want Ace and the camp...Run."

The scene around them shimmered, and she was able to see what he did. The underground brick room covered in weaponry, and torture devices. His wrists and ankles were tied to the chair, but on his left arm now slightly covered in blood glinted his charm bracelet. Facing them was the skull charm, dripping with his blood.

She gasped, suddenly angry that her kin were doing this. Ebony saw Octavian standing by the table with a knife in his hand. I'm going to kill him. She ripped her focus away from Octavian and knelt in front of Gael, "It's going to be okay." Tears were slowly falling down her face. This scene was her undoing, "We're going to get you out of here."

His cuts were slowly healing, and he didn't seem to hear her as he glared at Octavian, growling softly, "I'm not saying."

Ebony stared at Gael, "What do they want? The location of Camp Half-Blood?" Then she noticed the cuts healing, the one on his arm turned into a pink scar. A couple more and his arm would resemble her's.

Gael turned his gaze to her, pain in his eyes as he nodded, "Ace and the camp."

She placed her hands on his cheeks gently, tears still falling slowly, "Hold on." she sobbed, "Please." she kissed him, "We'll be there soon. I promise."

He was focused on Octavian again, and screamed, "I'm not telling!"

Ebony could feel herself being pulled from the dream, it was ending soon and she would be back in the Land of the Aware. Before the dream dissolved she gently caressed his face, "I love you." The dream dissipated before Gael could respond.

When she awoke Hades was sitting across the tiny room in a chair. "Dad? What are you doing here?"

Hades shrugged, "I may live in the Underworld, but I still hear the gossip. Venus," Her name made him flicker into Pluto for a minute before returning to Hades, "Has been raging that you kissed her adoptive baby."

She covered her face with her hands, "Shit." There was no other adequate response for the bomb he just dropped on her.

"Why shit?" Hades growled, "This is great! She's been going on and on about him and his boy that...son of Hephaestus, all month. About how they'll help the Greeks and Romans start getting along because of their love, but now you come along. No couple, there's no way for them to fix things."

"I-I don't understand..." Confused, she shook her head. "You're happy?"

"Of course I'm happy. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, that's a first..." She avoided the question, "How pissed is Venus?"

"Oh, royally which only makes things that much better. I enjoy when she's pissed. She's calmed down now, something about the Romans capturing that Greek boy you were procreating with."

She stood quickly, "What! Its her fault?!"

Hades shrugged, "I don't know if she actually caused it or not, but she certainly seems to believe it's hurting you."

Ebony couldn't believe what he just said. He hears the most ridiculous gossip but can't see the pain she's in. She was about to blow up about being in pain because of it but decided against it. She didn't need anymore gods mad at her. "Why isn't she angry with Ace? I get it, he's her kid but it takes two to tango!"

Again, Hades shrugged, "I don't know. I get all the gossip second hand from Persephone, but he's getting punished somehow. You two will get over things though."

"What do you mean, we'll 'get over things'?" Her anger was rising. Threatening to breach the protective wall she put up so it wouldn't burn anyone again.

"Venus can only do so much. She'd bound, see? She can't break up love unless it dissolves on its own."'

"That..." bitch "Well, she's bending the rules! She's trying to cause it to dissolve. But you know what, I love Gael and I always will! Its going to take more than a spiteful," conceited, "angry goddess to break us up."

Hades raised an eyebrow, the shadows collecting together around him as he growled, "Gael?"

"Yes, Dad. Gael. The boy they're torturing, the Greek. Well, I love him. So you can just shove whatever delusions you have of me and Ace together, out the window!"

Hades growled, "No. You will be with a Roman."

That's it! Here comes Hurricane Ebony, that makes twice in two days. Usually she has better control of her anger... "No! I refuse! I am so sick of everyone telling me what I have to do! Dammit even Ace's dad is telling me what to do!" She was yelling again, "I bridging that damn gap for you! What else do you want from me?! I refuse! I love Gael and that's the end of it. You're just going to have to suck it up. Because, I swear, if you try and push me towards another Roman or tell me to leave Gael, I will never call you my father again. I'll reject the Romans all together." With that she stormed out, not giving him a chance to respond.

Ace had heard her yelling since he had been hiding in the room across the hall from her room since she'd yelled at him and Leo. By the time she'd stormed out of the room he was standing in the door frame, but as she entered the hall he turned quickly to go back into his room.

"Ace. Wait." Her voice calmed considerably. "I have something to tell you..."

Despite himself, he stopped, and turned back to her. He couldn't bring himself to say anything though, too afraid his voice would crack.

"I'm sorry." She looked at him, knowing he'd never forgive her for the way she blew up on him. "It wasn't fair of me to be so angry...I now know it wasn't really your fault, what happened to Gael." She explained what Hades told her about Venus and her rath. When she was done explaining she looked at him, he still stood in the doorway, emotionless, "Look, I know that probably just makes you even more upset, but I figured I owed you an apology." She turned back to her own room. Hoping he accepted her apology, especially since her's don't come too often.

"You were right though." There was a deadness to his voice, emotionless.

She sighed and didn't turn to face him again. Her head was low as she leaned on the door way, "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. Either way, I'm sorry."

"We shouldn't have done it there. I guess that can be blamed on Venus anyway." He didn't say that Gael would be okay, or that they'd help her find him. Ace just retreated back into his room, and closed the door.

Ebony walked into her room and shut the door, then she slid to the floor. She was numb. Her father was happy and thought she'd be with Ace, Venus caused Gael to be taken and tortured, and finally, Ace hated her. He had every right to but it hurt nonetheless. But, the worst of all was the numbness. She didn't want to be numb, she wanted to feel and the only way she knew how to feel, involved a blade of her own...


	13. 13) Gael Hastings

His entire body ached with bruises, and scabs. The Romans had healed Gael, but only enough for the cuts to stop bleeding. The idea of telling them kept flitting through his head, but no. He wouldn't betray the Greeks like that. Not his family. They were just going to kill him even if he told them anyway.

He watched Octavian draw closer with another knife. Was it his imagination or were they getting more and more like the sacrificial daggers the blonde used on his stuffed animals? Why didn't he just cut Gael open, and see if his guts would tell the location? It would get things over with.

Octavian stood next to Ace's dad and talked to him in a hushed down, "I think we have something to break him with. Last night, he mumbling Ebony's name."

"The daughter of Pluto?" He whispered back, glancing over at Gael's limp form.

"Yes." Octavian felt hopeful that this would work.

The son of Mars turned to their captive, telling Octavian loud enough for the boy to hear, "Maybe we're wasting our time here. She's more likely to break afterall."

Gael felt like a bucket of cold water flood over him. Everybody had gotten onto the Argo II. He had been the last to go up...they couldn't have anybody else. Unless...Ebony did something stupidly brave...

The man moved closer to Gael, stalking around his chair, "There's so much more we could do to a child of Pluto."

Ebony...Gael growled, and tried to bite at the man, "Don't touch her!"

Octavian smiled at Gael and stepped closer to him with a different knife. It was bigger and sharper and had markings on the handle. "You make it too easy, Hastings."

"We already have her. She was caught trying to sneak in." Ace's father stood behind his chair, hands gripping the back, "Not to you. She was trying to grab weaponry, and some of Ace's things."

What? No! They're lying! If she broke in, she was coming here! She had to have been! Gael growled again, "Liars!"

"See...she's already moved on from you." He kept going, "From you to Ace."

Now they're really just lying. She'd never do anything with the blonde. "She wouldn't."

The son of Mars had a twinkle in his eyes, and smirked at Octavian, "I guess you missed them making out at dinner the other day."

Octavian looked at Gael, "Still don't want to tell us where the Greeks are?"

"You're lying." Gael answered, "I have nothing to tell liars."

The man shrugged, heading back to Octavian, "I guess we'll have to get it out of her."

"Okay. Let's go." Octavian turned to the door, waiting for Gael to respond. He just watched the two leave. Ebony was in his dreams. She'd been there. If they were torturing her whenever they weren't torturing him, there's no way she could have been there. Doubt still held tight to his heart.

It was the fight time in a while he'd actually found a natural sleep as opposed to blacking out from blood loss. Luckily, he'd always found falling asleep easy, and was soon out. He found himself in the same room he hadn't left for days. After a while, Ebony appeared in all her beauty. Still, what had been said was digging its way farther into his brain.

Ebony walked over to him, "Gael." She smiled, despite him being cut up and bloody she still thought he looked handsome.

He looked at her tiredly. There weren't any fresh cuts or bruises on him this time, "Hey."

She walked over to him and kissed his cheek, "How are you holding up?"

"Alright." He came across as distant, cold.

She smiled, "We're going to come get you."

Gael just nodded, lost in his own thoughts. She wouldn't have kissed him. Not Ace...She couldn't have...

Ebony sighed, "You seem upset. Not only because of what they're doing to you..."

"Ace's dad..." Gael started slowly, "He said something...I know they're lying just to get to me, but...he said...He said you kissed Ace..."

Ebony was shocked, "I...It was the truth..." She looked down, ashamed.

He stared at her for a minute, shaking his head, "No...no you wouldn't do that."

"But I did...Ace's dad...I had too..."

"You had too?" His voice was sharp, and hard while betrayal shone in his eyes.

"Yes. It didn't mean anything. Ace's dad was standing there...and...I'm sorry."

Gael shook his head, looking away from her, "When were you going to tell me?"

"When we got on the Argo but then you got captured." she looked a the ground.

He bit his lip, trying desperately to keep from breaking down. Gael felt himself waking up slowly, but he looked at her once more before leaving. There was something different in his eyes. A different form of determination. Gael opened his eyes to the reality dark room he'd just dream left. He realized his face was wet.

As he looked around, he saw Ace's father sitting on one of the tables. His face hard, and his arms crossed. The two brunettes looked each other over for a minute, before the elder asked, "Are you ready to tell us?"

"I'm not telling you anything." Gael answered, a coldness in his voice as he glared the Roman down, "But I'll show you."


	14. 14) Ace Kindle

Ace lay in his bed emotionless. After he'd cried himself out, he'd dived into this state of not feeling much of anything. Ebony's apology hadn't even sparked a reaction in him. There wasn't a need to feel anything anymore. It didn't matter, and he didn't move.

He didn't want to face the others after what had happened. He didn't want Leo to see him this bland. He hadn't felt this way in six years. The silence of the room held comfort for him. Nobody staring, nobody laughing, nobody forcing his hand.

There was a soft knock on the door and Clarisse stuck her head in, "Ace?"

The blonde turned his head slightly to look at her, "Hu?"

"We're landing for supplies"

"Okay." Ace sat up slowly, swinging his legs off the bed, "Where?"

"Great Lakes."

Ace nodded slowly, "I'll be up in a minute."

After she'd left, he pulled on a brown denim jacket over the muscle shirt he already wore with his jeans. He glanced in the mirror to check for any stray tears, before heading up on deck.

"You okay?" Clarisse looked concerned.

"I'm fine." He answered without much conviction, "We should go."

" ...Okay..." She didn't look convinced but headed out to the deck anyway. Ace followed her, looking around at the lake rather than his friends.

Clarisse looked at Jason and gave him a look you need to talk to him. Now!

The younger blonde just shrugged, whispering to her, "He gets like this sometimes. He'll be fine."

Clarisse nodded, "I heard Ebony apologize to Ace but I think it just upset him more..."

Ace interrupted them, "Are we doing something?"

"Repairs." Jason answered, "The attack left damage. Leo says its easy to fix, but he needs materials. There's line and celestial bronze close by, and we were going to send a group into town to get some tar. I was thinking that you might want to go with Leo and Hazel to get the line and bronze."

Ace shrugged, "Whatever."

Leo walked up to him, "Ready?"

"Sure." The blonde hopped down to the land easily.

Leo followed him quickly. "...Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine." Ace stated as Hazel join them, and the trio started walking. He couldn't look at Leo, and stared focused straight ahead of them. Leo brushed his hand against Ace's and smiled. The blonde didn't react.

Leo sighed and walked ahead of them. Hazel looked between the two, before speeding up to Leo, "What happened to you two?"

"I don't know...

"Maybe he's just still upset about what Ebony said." Hazel offered.

"Clarisse over heard her apologizing...But I don't think he even reacted..."

The girl shrugged, glancing back at their friend, "He'll calm down."

Leo shrugged, "I hope so..."

As they wandered along the beach, Ace lagged back from the other two, watching the sand beneath his feet until suddenly Hazel stopped and he ended up running into her. Several feet in front of the trio stood Octavian in full Roman battle armor.

Leo drew his sword, "What are you doing here?"

Hazel drew her own weapon while Ace just stood behind the two. Octavian smirked and shrugged, "We were just on our way to attack the Greek camp."

"How did you find out? Gael would never tell." Leo glared at him.

"He did." Octavian answered, "He just needed a little persuasion."

"You tortured it out of him." Hazel accused.

Leo glared at Octavian, ready to rip his throat out. The augur just smirked wider, "I guess we might see you there...unless you don't make it in time."

Leo looked at Hazel, panicked as Octavian left. She looked between the boys, "We have to go, now. Will we be able to get there without doing the repairs?"

"It'll be pushing it to her limit but, yeah."

"Then lets go." The girl turned back towards the ship, and started to rush there. Leo rushed after her. Ace followed them, rushing without really thinking about it. When they got back on board, the blonde quickly disappeared into his room again. As he locked the door though, he realized that he wasn't alone. He turned to see Venus sitting there in all her ever changing glory.

"Hello, Ace." She smiled lovingly at him.

Ace went to sit on the bed across from the chair she was in, "My lady."

"Tell me about the kiss."

He blushed, "It was nothing...Just a thing...to avoid father's rage."

"Well, why do you insist on ignoring Leo? He's hurting, you know, he doesn't understand why you won't talk to him or hold his hand." She sat cross legged and stared at him, waiting for a reasonable response from Ace.

Ace looked at her scared for a minute before looking away, and muttering, "I love him...Maybe a little bit too much..."

"Ace, sweet heart, there is no such thing as loving too much."

The blonde shook his head, "He's changing me...Making me weak..."

"How is that? Because, Ace, all I see when you're with him is happiness. So, unless you call happiness 'weak' you're wrong."

Ace curled up against the wall, pulling his knees into his chest, "I...I'm too emotional."

"Ace Kindle, listen to me!" she was getting frustrated, "There is nothing wrong with being emotional. Besides, I have special plans for you and Leo Valdez."

"Special plans?"

"Yes. Very, very special plans and an amazing gift." She smiled warmly at him.

He shook his head, "What kind of amazing gift?"

She smiled again, "You'll just have to see..." With that she was gone.

Ace's heart was pounding, and after a few minutes he stood. He made his way up on deck, and over to Leo. The Hispanic turned when he heard Ace come up behind him.

He smiled slightly at Ace, "Hi."

The blonde didn't answer, he just went up to Leo, and kissed him. He made the kiss sweet, and loving, and apologetic. At first Leo didn't respond but then after a few seconds he kissed back with equal amounts of sweetness, love, and apology.

Ace pulled away after a minute, and smiled at him, "I love you."

Leo smiled happily, "I love you too." Then he pulled him in for a tight hug, he never wanted to let go.


	15. 15) Ebony Blake

Ebony was pressed against the door with a tiny blade in her hands and drops of blood on the floor and her arm. Figures. She didn't have the strength or the willpower to last more than a month. Her entire life has been falling to pieces. Gael was captured, Ace would never forgive her, her father didn't see her pain, and now Gael was mad at her too.

She heard a knock on the door and someone tried to push it open but she was sitting against it, "Go away..." She wasn't sure if they heard her because it came out barely above a whisper.

"Ebony...?" Ace asked softly, his voice full of emotion rather than the emotionless void of before.

"What?" She didn't move a muscle. Her voice was hoarse from all the yelling she had done lately.

"Can we talk?" Worry was clear in his voice.

She groaned, "Okay. Hold on." Quickly she took a tissue and wiped up the blood. Then she put the blade into her boots, she would put it away later. She opened the door and looked at Ace, "Yes?" Now it was her turn to have an emotionless voice.

He looked at her with his wide, innocent red eyes as he muttered, "I'm sorry about locking you out like that."

"Its fine. I understand why you did it."

"It was still wrong. I didn't have a good reason to be a bitch. I've just been numbing again." He looked down, having a hard time meeting her eyes, "We shouldn't break up a friendship like we have because we both happened to have a bad day on the same day."

She was happy that Ace was here, talking with her. But it felt foreign, as if the happiness wasn't her's. She forced herself to push down the emptiness and numbness and embrace that alien happy feeling, "Okay." She put on a forced smile and shoved as much of that faux happiness that she could into that one word. "But, um, as long as we're talking, I really am sorry about blowing up on you the other day. You're my best friend and I don't want to lose you too..." She walked to her bed and sneaked the blade from her boot to under the mattress.

Ace stood in the doorway, and noticed the movement, but decided to keep from being accusing about it, "Are you okay?"

She shrugged, "I guess. I just...I feel like I'm up Shit Creek without a paddle."

He went to sit on her bed after closing the door, "We'll get Gael back...Leo, Hazel, and I ran into Octavian while we were out...He said they tortured the location of Camp Half-Blood out of him. That's where we're going...Trying to get there before the Romans."

"He told?" She sat down in the chair heavily. She mumbled,"Shit...The kiss..."

"...What?"

She explained how she's been in Gael's dreams then went on to explain what happened in the last one, "He...He knows about the kiss. They, your dad, told him about it. He's probably angry about it and that's why he told them about camp..."

"...We can't let them fight." Ace stated, "The two camps will tear each other apart resulting in nowhere safe."

"I know...Pluto said I'm the one who's supposed to bridge the gap between the two camps...I just didn't think it would happen anytime soon..." She sighed.

"How are you planning on doing it?"

She looked stressed out, "I don't know!"

Ace was silent for a minute before offering, "I have an idea...It's kind of crazy though..."

"Um. The last time one of us had a 'crazy idea' it bit us in the ass..." She pointed out.

"Do you have any other plans?" Ace asked, slowly getting back to his usual sassy self, "No? I didn't think so. We should be arriving within the next few hours so unless you can think that fast..."

"You know what, fine. What's your crazy-ass idea?"

The blonde smiled, an evil glint in his eyes as he leaned toward her to whisper his plan excitedly.


	16. 16) Gael Hastings

Traveling by chariot driven by a giant eagle was officially not Gael's favorite way to travel. It proved worse than when Ebony shadow traveled. The thought of her hurt though, and he was already regretting his hasty decision prompted by anger. There was no turning back now though.

Octavian drew the chariot Gael was tied in while Reyna flew next to them on her pegasus, Scipio. Yes, Gael was still tied up. Both his wrists hung from handcuffs that only gave him enough slack to look over the edge of the chariot to direct Octavian where to go. The idea had passed his mind of leading them wrong, but that would end up with a group of very angry Romans making cuts in his corpse.

He was still covered in dirt, and blood. He seriously needed a shower, and some food. The Romans hadn't been starving him per say, but he'd been getting just barely enough bread and water to not die. A week like that had left him thinning already. His muscles ached from the cuts and bruises they didn't bother healing before setting out, and while the Romans had given him his jeans back they hung loose from his frame. The little consolation was that at least he wasn't being driven across the country butt naked.

Octavian looked at Gael, "I knew it wouldn't take long to break you." He was dressed in full Roman armor.

The Greek glared at him, but made no response. This Roman had to be the stupidest of the lot. The guy hadn't even disarmed Gael as he still wore his charm bracelet with the dual knives clipped to it. He stretched up, and looked over the Manhattan skyline. Not long now...

"I wonder how Ebony is going to react when she learns that you betrayed her and the camp." Octavian smirked at him. Gael growled softly, but made no other response. When they started getting closer to the camp Octavian prepared his troops. He strapped on his sword and adjusted the straps on his armor.

Gael gazed down at his home, a knock rising in his throat. It was too late though. There was no turning back. He'd certainly be able to backstab though. He looked over at Reyna and Octavian, "What? You're just going to leave me here? You're only leverage."

Octavian slapped Gael, "Shut up. Before I just throw you off the back of the chariot."

Play submissive. Don't taunt him. Don't remind him that that would involve untying me, and then I could kick his ass. Gael's head snapped to the side at the slap, and he kept it there to avoid looking at the Roman with all the hatred he knew was there. They need to think I'm on their side.

They were at the borders of the camp. The Greeks were watching the sky for the Roman eagles as they prepared for a battle. Gael watched them before turning back to his captors, "Don't underestimate the Greeks. If one thing matters to them its home, and they'll do anything to preserve it." Them, not us. Them.

Octavian laughed, "We're going to crush the Greeks. Your camp is all about fun and games. Camp Jupiter is about training and fighting. And winning."

That 'fun and games' teach us how to be warriors, heroes. Everybody always forgets that the greatest hero ever was originally Greek. Oh no, its Hercules this and Hercules that. He was Greek, and named Heracles! Hercules is nothing more than a god. But Gael didn't say anything, he just sat back as the Romans descended on Camp Half-Blood.

Octavian smiled at his troops as they landed in front of Peleus the dragon. Gael looked at the camp and saw Jacoby leading the Morpheus cabin to the frontlines. A strange feeling of pride flooded through him as he watched his little brother lead the group up the hill towards the Romans fearlessly.

Gael left himself lifted up, the handcuffs breaking for a split second before attaching to each other so his hands were bound in front of him. He looked up at Ace's dad as the man pulled him towards the approaching troops. Jacoby paused, but kept advancing at the look in Gael's eyes. He looked over his home; the cabins, the dining pavilion, the chariot track, the archery range, the Big House, and the empty bay twinkling in the sunlight. He glanced back at the man holding him, "Your son's not here."

In response, Gael got a mouthful of dirt as he was dropped to the ground in front of the legion. So far, his plan was going perfectly. Ebony stepped out of the shadows, dressed in full battle armor, Ace and Leo were standing next to her as well as Clarisse and the rest of the Argo II. She stood in front of them and glared at Octavian and Ace's dad.

Octavian sneered at the boy at their feet, and kicked him in the side, "Not here, eh?"

Gael groaned, and looked up at Ebony. Her being here made his plan harder, but he had to pray she understood. He turned his head to glare at Octavian, "We had a deal." In reality, no deal had been made, but Gael needed the blonde to be distracted.

"What deal?"

Gael was hunched over so neither side could see his hands as he carefully unhooked his daggers, "Oh come on! Pretending to not remember is oldest excuse in the book!" He saw Ace's father going to say something, but quickly stopped him, "Did we ask you?"

Ace stared at his friend. He'd used that line on Gael less than a month ago...And suddenly, things clicked. He saw the glint of the knives in Gael's hands, "Gael..."

Oh crap...Just say it! The son of Morpheus glared up at Ace, "Not you too! You know, the more time I spend with him the more I can understand you two being related! I am talking to the augur!" Ebony looked at Gael, she was surprised by the way he was acting. It was so unlike him.

The Romans just stared at him, completely unsure what to do with the sudden feisty side of their captive. Gael just rolled his eyes, "Are y'all really that stupid? Ace gots what's goin' on! I'm killin' you!"

With that, Gael stood suddenly, knives in hand. He was still handcuffed, but that didn't stop him from stabbing at Octavian. Unfortunately, he didn't exactly stab high enough. His dagger dug into the blonde's chest at the bottom of his ribcage. Gael pulled his knife out, before ducking under a punch from the son of Mars, and running as fast as he could towards the woods. I'm not dying! I'm not dying! I'm not dying!


	17. 17) Ebony Blake

Wait, did Gael just stab Octavian?! She ran after him, "Gael!"

Ace watched her go, panicked, "Ebony!" When she didn't answer he turned to Leo, "Plan B then." The blonde pulled his spatha, and ran Octavian through. Finishing what Gael had started, and beginning the battle.

Gael only went a few yards into the woods, before collapsing from exhaustion on the leafy floor. He looked back at Ebony as he heard her coming, "Eb?"

She fell to her knees beside Gael, "Gael. Are you...I missed you!"

He struggled into a sitting position, "Missed you too, beautiful."

Ebony kissed his cheeks, his lips, his forehead, and chin. She couldn't get enough of him, she missed him so much. "I'm so happy to see you."

Gael was panting softly, and pale, but looked in her eyes with such determination, "You have to go. I'll be fine. I'll still be here when the battle's done, but they are fight, and they need you."

"But I...I...Okay." She kissed him once more, deeply. "I love you. And if you're not here when I get back, you'll be in trouble." She smiled and stood, picking up her helmet.

"Here? I can't promise here. I can promise alive though." He smiled, "I love you too."

"Okay." Then she turned and ran back to the battle. Ebony had been in several battles but this one was unsettling. These were her kin, slaughtering each other, her family.

Dakota was the first to notice her return, and made straight for her, spatha and shield drawn. Ebony saw him and glared, raising her sword. She was ready to get revenge for Gael. He swung down on her, blocks and attacks quicker than he had when they were only training. This was different. This was a battle field where they were enemies.

She used her new Roman techniques against him, she slashed at him and cut his arm. Dakota pulled away from her, growling softly, "Greece will fall to Rome's might again. If you really are a Roman, then you are siding with the enemy."

I'm both...I'm Greek and Roman. She hit him with her shield knocking him over. She pointed her sword at his neck, she was ready to cut his head off. Ace's scream stopped her. It wasn't a yell of victory, a cry of pain, or a shriek of terror. It was a blood curdling scream that stopped the battle in its tracks, "Dad!"


	18. 18) Ace Kindle

Ace had been lost in battle, but he refused to kill. He'd only finished what Gael had started with Octavian, he didn't need anymore blood on his hands. He'd knock down soldier so they couldn't fight, but no killing.

He'd also been keeping an eye on his father. Despite everything, he was still the man who gave him life. Ace didn't want to see him died. Not after he'd watched his mom's death unable to help. He'd seen the Stoll brothers fighting the son of Mars together before getting distracted as one of the big muscular kids from the first cohort, Eric, tried to skewer him. When he looked back to his father, he stopped.

The guy was on the ground, still alive, but barely moving. A knife stuck out of his chest right at his heart. That's when the world around them seemed to disappear. Ace screamed, and ran to him through the crowd of warriors who'd stopped fighting. He was crying as he knelt next to his father, and placed his hands over the wound with the knife secured between his fingers. The hilt was a design Ace recognized, but he couldn't think about that right then.

"No..." Ace muttered, fear clutching at his heart. Anybody could have killed him right then, but nobody tried, "No. You're going to be okay. You're not leaving me."

"Ace!" Leo ran over to Ace and his father.

The blonde looked at his lover, they were both covered in dirt and sweat, but two clean streaks on Ace's face showed where he'd been crying. Out of fear, he pressed down harder on the wound that was getting blood on his hands, "B-bello...?"

Leo put a hand on Ace's shoulder and squeezed it gently. He leaned into Leo, keeping his hands securely on the wound despite how slippery it was getting, "Bello, nectar."

"No." The son of Mars muttered, "No...It's okay, Ace."

"Daddy...you can't leave me."

"You'll be fine." He smiled slightly, "Come here."

Ace leaned down for his dad to whisper to him for a few minutes, before they both looked at Leo. His father looked the boy who'd won his son's heart up and down before stating, "You be good to my little angel, and if you hurt any part of his precious body including his heart...I will return as a ghost, and haunt you until you die."

Leo nodded quickly, "I'll be good to him, sir. I promise."

Ace slowly moved his hands to the hilt of the knife, before pulling it out in one swift motion. He couldn't bring himself to watch, and quickly buried his face in Leo's shoulder to cry.

A ripple ran through the crowd. Gael stood next to Ebony now, his hand flexing on his dagger. Reyna watched the image, trying to keep herself from hugging Ace. This was still a war though, and as much as she wanted to call off the attack she couldn't. Rome couldn't surrender.

Two soft clangs occurred back to back, making Ace look up from his lover's shoulder. Jason and Percy had dropped their weapons. Slowly, the rest of the crew of the Argo II did the same. Reyna watched the boys for a minute before dropping her own, and all too soon all weapons were on the ground.

Leo pulled Ace to him and kissed him gently, "It'll be okay..." He smiled at him reassuringly.

Ebony noticed the dagger laying next to Ace's father, "Gael..." She couldn't take her eyes off the dagger.

The blonde cuddled into the secure warmth Leo offered him, while Gael just looked at her, "Hu?"

"It looks like your's..."

He fiddled with the one dagger in his hand, and shrugged.

She looked at him for a moment and didn't know what to say. Then she looked back to Ace and wanted to hug him. Suddenly, the legacy pulled away from Leo, and rushed to his best friend. He hugged her tightly.

Ebony hugged him back just as tight, tearing up slightly. "Ace. You okay?"

He shrugged, "I...I don't know...I'll be okay...But he...He gave Leo and I his blessing!" The last word cracked, but the joy of the action was clear. Ace just hated that his father had to die for them to get it.

"Good." She pulled back from the hug and smiled. "But...What about the battle..." She looked around. "Because I'm pretty sure you just ended it..."

Ace looked around awed at the campers and legionnaires working together to heal the wounded, carry the dead to be properly sent off, and do general clean up after a battle stuff. He looked back at Ebony, "But...they're working together...This is good."

"Yeah..." She looked at the shadows, expecting Hades to pop out.

Gael came over to them instead, clapping Ace on the back, "You'll be okay."

The blonde looked him over, and it was clear from the fire in his eyes that Ace knew it had been Gael's dagger. Instead of getting angry, or accusatory Ace just stated, "You're not looking so hot. Get healed, and take a shower, and maybe you'll be pretty again."

He turned back to Leo, and kissed the Latino heatedly, "I love you."

Leo kissed back with passion, "I love you too, Ace."


	19. 19) Gael Hstings

He hated the smells of battle, but Gael knew it was needed sometimes. That night, he was walking along the beach with Ebony. They'd managed to heal him fully, but the healers had told him most of the scars would never fade. Still, it was nice to be home, and he found himself not minding the scars so much. They were battle wounds, and if he decided at some point they were annoying Ace had offered him some magic cover up from the Lady Venus Make-Up Line designed to make you perfect.

Ebony took his hand and smiled but then winced slightly as his arm brushed the still healing self-inflicted wounds on her arms. Quickly she covered the wince with a smile and kissed his cheek, "I missed you so much."

Gael put his arm around her, "I missed you too, and...I understand the kiss. I mean, I was kind of pissed at first, but I understand now."

Ebony smiled, "Good. But, I'm still really sorry about the kiss."

Before he could answer, Gael stopped. Several feet in front of them a man was sitting on the beach. He had dark hair the color of night time clouds, pale skin that shone in the moonlight with a slight sandy color under his jaw or behind his ears or the tips of his fingers. Without looking at them, Gael knew his eyes would be the soft silvery gray color several of his siblings had, and which he'd always been envious of. The man wore plaid pants, no shirt, and a white and red striped sleeping cap.

When Ebony saw the man it was obvious that he was related to Gael. Which would mean it was Morpheus, god of dreams. She pulled Gael over to the god, "Morpheus?"

"Not a very polite greeting." The god muttered, not looking at them.

Gael shyly crouched next to him, "...Dad?"

Morpheus smiled, and looked at his son of the first time, "You got your mom's eyes...Good. It would have been a shame for them to have died with her." Ebony just stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. The immortal looked up at her, "Come now, Ebony. Standing there isn't much of a greeting for your want-to-be Father-In-Law, is it?"

She looked slightly shocked and embarrassed, but she couldn't deny the truth. She wanted Morpheus to be her Father-In-Law someday, "I guess not." She sat in the sand next to him.

Gael looked between the two of them, "Your...what?"

"Father-In-Law." Morpheus shrugged like it was nothing, "Come on...I know you want it to too, Gael, there's no good in lying, and if I have any say in matter, it will happen. Never mind what Hades or Pluto says."

The younger blushed, not meeting her eyes, "It...it will?"

"Oh yes, and Venus agrees with me. She's been doing that whole twists and turns thing she likes to pull, nearly broke you up too, but not while I'm around."

Ebony scowled at the thought of Venus and her plan to break them up. Then she thought for a moment, "Did you help Gael and I reach each other in dreams while he was captured?"

"Of course. He didn't have the concentration to get himself anywhere, but you needed to know what was going on."

She smiled gratefully, "Thank you."

Gael finally sat, "So...what about a Father-In-Law?"

Morpheus glanced at Ebony like they shared a secret, and he was asking for permission to share it with somebody else. Ebony nodded slightly at the god. The god answered his son in a sing-songy voice, "She's been dreaming about it." Ebony blushed slightly and pushed her hair behind her ear.

"But I've been-"

He didn't get to finish before Morpheus kept going, "The pretty white wedding, raising babies on that little farm of your's. It's really heartwarming, most children of death dream about...well, death. But you...you manage to make the one who does fall head over heels for it. Its all very touching."

Ebony glanced at Gael, blushing slightly, praying that he wanted or had the same dream as her. He looked at her shyly, "I..." Suddenly he smiled, "That sounds great, but...It's not safe out there."

"You can take a clipping from that daughter of Zeus' tree, put it over the door, and it'll protect you." Morpheus shrugged.

"Really?" Ebony looked hopeful, she wanted to have a life with Gael so bad.

"You'll have to get a new clipping every ten years or so, but yes."

Gael stared at him, "How has nobody done it before?"

"They have. Chiron just likes to keep it on the down low so you all don't get too dependant on such things." He stood, "Artemis has risen, and there are children who need play dreams. I must be going." Before he walked away into the woods, Morpheus turned back, "Oh, and Gael...Revenge doesn't suit you...You're too good at it."

His son watched as he disappeared into the woods, before moving to sit next to Ebony, staring out into the water, "So...?"

"So..." She glanced at him then kissed the corner of his mouth.

Gael smiled, "That's not at all what I thought my dad would be like..."

"Yeah." She laughed, "Think he likes me?"

"Just a little bit." He joked, smiling slightly, "At least he likes us though. We don't need both of our godly parents against us."

She just smiled and took his hand, turning her arm so the inside of it faced her. He looked down at her arm, gently using his other hand to move her's back, "I know. You don't have to keep trying to hide it."

"I just..." She looked down, "You were gone and Ace was mad at me and dad wanted me to hook up with a Roman and..." she smiled slightly, "I went off on him the last time he mentioned me and a Roman... But, anyways, everything was just terrible. It was so bad I was to the point of not feeling anymore..."

"Its okay." Gael said, "You slipped because life was sucky particularly hard. I get it." He leaned over, and kissed her.

Ebony kissed him back then pulled him into a hug, "I love you." She wrapped her arms around his waist and cuddled closer to him.

He held her for a minute before standing up, and pulling her with him, "You, hopefully, will love me even more after this."

Eb stood with him and smiled, "What?"

"I...got a crazy idea." Gael looked around the beach, before picking up a small conch shell. He ran his fingers over it a minute, before looking at her, and smiling. After a deep breath to calm his suddenly thundering heart, he got down on one knee, and held the shell out, "Will you marry me?"

Ebony's heart stopped for just a moment before she got down on her knees to and hugged him, "Yes!" Then she kissed him deeply, when she pulled away she was breathless.

Gael laughed happily, and kissed her again with such force they fell over into the sand with him on top. He kept kissing her until he heard the chatter of campers heading off to bed. Still he was reluctant as he pulled away, and whispered, "We should go to bed..."

She put a hand on his cheek gently and kissed him. Then she rolled him off of her and stood, "I'll be dreaming about you..." She smirked and walked to her cabin.

Gael smiled, before racing off to the Morpheus cabin.


	20. 20) Leo Valdez

Leo had just finished repairs on the Argo II and was thinking about how to break the news to Ace. He was leaving with the crew tomorrow to fight the giants, save the world, and Nico. How was Ace going to handle the news?

Ace sighed, slipping his wrench into his own tool belt. It wasn't anything like Leo's, but a gift from his mom when he'd first joined the legion seven years ago. He went over to his lover slowly, "She's all better..."

"Good..." He fiddled with his hands, "So, um...We're leaving. I mean the crew...We have to go save the world..." He looked at the ground, hoping Ace would understand.

Ace sighed, cupping his cheek, "I know, Bello..."

Leo looked at him, "So...Where does that leave us? Will you wait for me? Until I come back and we can start a life together."

"I'm not going anywhere. It's going to take more than a war to break us up." The blonde kissed him sweetly.

Leo kissed him back, adding tenderness to the kiss with a dash of passion and dollop of heat, "Good." He smiled brightly at his amazingly wonderful boyfriend.

Ace smirked, slipping a finger into two of Leo's belt loops, and pulling him close so their bodies were pressed completely together, "Remember, you're mine. No letting those filthy Italians get their hands on what's mine."

Leo moaned slightly when Ace pulled them together but then became a sort of sarcastic serious, "Of course. And, when I'm gone, don't you dare forget about me or have too much fun without me."

"No fun." Ace promised., moving so their lips were inches apart, "And when you get back, if the fates allow, we'll converge naked in bed for at least a week."

Leo smiled, "Yes please." His erection pressed against Ace. "How about some for the road?"

The blonde laughed softly, rubbing against him, "Celibacy isn't going to bode well for either of us."

Leo growled and pulled Ace to the floor.

…

The next morning Leo waved as he boarded the Argo II. This was going to be a long trip without Ace there to keep him company. Ace watched him leave sadly, standing next to Ebony and Gael. Leo blew a kiss to Ace and stood behind the wheel of his mighty ship.

Festus whirred excitedly, happy to be off on another adventure. Ace suddenly rushed on board, kissing Leo needily.

Leo kissed back, "I love you. I'll be back soon." He smiled, dang, he was gonna start crying if Ace didn't get back down there and let them take off

The blonde kissed him again, "I love you too." He held onto Leo as he turned to face the rest of the crew, "I need him to come back living and breathing...Preferably in one piece or I will personally murder all of you."

Jason smiled at his brother, "We'll do our best."

Ace turned back to Leo, fighting back tears as he brushed a piece of hair off the boy's forehead, "You too. Living and breathing, understood?"

Leo smiled, "We'll all come back safely." He kissed him, "Now get off. We're gonna be behind schedule if we don't leave now." He paused, "Also, don't you do anything stupid or dangerous while I'm gone."

The blonde laughed, "Stupid and dangerous things are my specialty. I'll try my best to be safe." He kissed Leo once more, before heading back down to Gael and Ebony. She hugged him tightly and waved as the Argo II took to the skies.


End file.
